


diamond dust

by yearofthemoo



Category: Mamamoo, 방탄소년단 | Bangtan Boys | BTS
Genre: Assassins & Hitmen, F/M, Gen, Mutual Pining, btsmoo, jinbyul, microscopic wheetae bc im so soft for them
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-07
Updated: 2020-07-03
Packaged: 2021-03-03 03:48:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 24,185
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24048451
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yearofthemoo/pseuds/yearofthemoo
Summary: when moon byulyi's long lost ex-boyfriend suddenly shows up at her front door, she knows her quiet vacation from being a contracted killer is about to be cut short. the question is, what the hell does kim seokjin want from her after all these years?aka that jinbyul hitman!au no one asked for
Relationships: Jung Wheein/Kim Taehyung | V, Kim Seokjin | Jin/Moon Byulyi | Moonbyul
Comments: 15
Kudos: 40





	1. intro;

**_song list_ **

_thief by alice chater_

_100 ways by jackson wang_

_physical ft. hwasa by dua lipa_

_homemade dynamite ft. khalid, sza, post malone by lorde_

_invisible things by lauv_

**warnings: lots of swearing, minor violence, mentions of sex, hella sexual tension, tsundere!byul, my usual bullshit**

Byulyi regrets getting up from her previous spot curled up on the couch to answer the door the moment she peeks her head out the front door and sees who it is.

"Oh. Nope. Yeah, absolutely fucking not. Goodbye." She tries to slam the door close as fast as she can, but the person on the other side is quicker to react, sticking their foot in the doorway and letting out a soft grunt of pain as the door makes contact with said appendage.

"Ow, fuck! Have you gotten stronger since I last saw you?"

"Get your stupid foot out of my doorway, _Kim_." Byulyi hisses in anger, leaning against her door with all her weight in an attempt to get rid of her unwelcome intruder.

"Ow, ow, ow! Yah, maybe if you let up on the door and let me pull my foot out instead of trying to crush it to death, we wouldn't be in this situation!"

Byulyi lets out a huff of anger, but acquiesces briefly, only for the person on the other side of the door to take advantage of the moment and force his way through the gap and into her residence, freezing as he immediately finds himself face to face with the barrel of a handgun. He holds both hands in the air in a show of surrender. "Whoa there, sweetheart, I'm unarmed."

"And I don't take well to unwanted visitors," Byulyi frowns, stance unyielding as she keeps her handgun trained on the man before her. "Get out of my house, Kim."

"Is this how you greet an old friend?"

"Last time I checked, we weren't exactly on speaking terms," Byulyi hisses. "I swear to god, Seokjin, if you don't get out of my sight in the next ten seconds, I'll blast your ass full of lead."

The intruder, Seokjin, waggles his eyebrows suggestively. "Kinky."

Byulyi releases the trigger on her gun and takes aim.

"Okay, wait, wait, wait!" Seokjin pleads, kicking the door close behind him with his foot to ensure Byulyi doesn't force him back outside once more. "Hear me out, Byul-ah, _please_."

Byulyi purses her lips in displeasure but after a long pause, releases the trigger and places it back into its holster all in one fluid motion. She crosses her arms and glares at her hitman ex-boyfriend.

"You get five minutes."


	2. one;

"How did you find me?" Byulyi asks as she takes a seat from across Seokjin, tossing him a plastic water bottle and cracking one open for herself. "I've been off the grid for the past few months."

"There's nothing in this world a little money can't buy, darling," Seokjin mimics her actions, unscrewing his own water bottle and taking a sip. "I reached out to RM, had him do some digging around for me. We met during one of my previous assignments.."

Byulyi raises an eyebrow. "That black market information broker?"

"You'd be surprised how much people will pay for information nowadays," Seokjin leans back into the living room couch he's sitting on and crosses one leg over another to get comfortable. Byulyi can't help but eye the way his skinny jeans flex and tighten over his thick thigh muscles. It pisses her off that he's still hot as hell, probably even better looking than the last time she saw him. The smug look on his face tells her that he knows exactly what she's thinking. Egoistic bastard. "If it makes you feel better, there's not much else he has on you, and what little he does have isn't exactly cheap. Cost me a damn fortune just to get the name of this town. I had to bluff my way through a conversation with Yongsun noona to figure out the rest right after she almost gutted me with a knife upon seeing me again."

"Figures." Byulyi snorts, shaking her head. "I always wondered why you went into the hitman business when you have the silver tongue of a conman."

"Maybe it's because there's only one person I actually want to use my tongue on," Seokjin comments lewdly, clearly suggesting something entirely different and much more inappropriate.

"You're fucking disgusting," Byulyi wrinkles her nose at his words, though the tips of her ears burn a bright red nonetheless as memories of their intimate past flash through her mind. As much as she hates to admit, he is in fact quite skilled with his tongue, in more ways than one. "You have one minute left."

"Fuck, you're actually timing me?!" Seokjin sits up straight. "C'mon, Byul, we haven't seen each other in so long..."

"And who's fault is that?" Byulyi snaps angrily. "Thirty seconds."

"Okay, it was my fault but- hey, that was _not_ thirty seconds! You're totally making up the times, aren't you?!"

"Ten, nine, eight..."

"Please, Byul-ah, I need you to do me this favor."

"Five, four, three..." Byulyi calmly takes a sip from her water bottle.

"I want to hire you as my bodyguard!"

"..." Byulyi almost spits out a mouthful of water. "What?!"

"I said," Seokjin takes a deep breath. "I want to hire you. As my bodyguard."

"Fuck no."

"But-"

"Are you out of your goddamn mind, Seokjin? A hitwoman as a hitman's bodyguard? I'd sooner put a bullet in you than take one for you, that's for sure."

"I know, but-"

"And you think that you can just- just show up out of the blue after disappearing for _years_ , and act like nothing ever happened?!"

"Byulyi, listen-"

"No, _you_ listen to me, Kim Seokjin." Byulyi exhales sharply. "I waited for you, and all that did was show me what a fucking fool I was to ever trust you. I'm not making that same mistake again."

"Damnit, Byul, someone's put a hit out for me!" Seokjin roars as he slams his hand down on the coffee table in front of him, finally getting the chance to speak without being interrupted. "Someone... Someone with a lot of power, and until I get the chance to find out who the bastard is and put a bullet through their skull, I need someone to watch my back. And no- no amount of shitty bodyguards or mercenaries is going to help, because they're not the best. _You are_."

Byulyi stands up, her voice gruff as she speaks. "Maybe you should have thought about that before you walked out of my life without a single goodbye. Time's up."

Seokjin runs a hand through his hair in stress, but doesn't protest as he stands up and follows Byulyi back towards the front foyer. He gazes at her from behind longingly, greedily taking in every inch of her silhouette. It's been so long since he's last seen her. She's matured gracefully, time filling in her womanly curves that she used to lack back when she was just a lanky and athletic spitfire starting out in the business. She's gotten rid of her choppy bangs as well, hair now gently parted to one side, making him desperately want to run his fingers down her long, tousled locks. She looks completely different than she did in the past, and yet, he finds that his heart still beats for her all the same. His tongue swipes nervously over his bottom lip before he speaks again. "Is... is my time really up?"

He isn't referring to just the five minutes.

Byulyi stops in her tracks. He watches conflict flit briefly across her face, the way her hands tightly clench into fists as though to hold back from swinging a punch at him right this moment. He knew this wasn't going to be easy, knew that there were going to be ghosts from their past if he were to reappear back into her life like this so abruptly. He hurt her, all those years ago, he knows.

But she wasn't the only one who suffered from his actions.

"-you double."

Seokjin blinks. "What?"

Byulyi crosses her arms and purses her lips in irritation. "You heard me. It's going to cost you double. Triple if you need a place to stay while you figure things out."

Seokjin almost does a double-take. "You're saying that..."

"I can still read you like a book," Byulyi snorts. "I can tell this issue has you pretty wound up, that means it must be pretty serious. And just because I hate your guts doesn't mean I'm okay with you going off and dying by some amateur's hand. Can't have your shitty death on my conscience like that."

Seokjin raises an eyebrow. "That's a bit ironic coming from someone who's hired to kill people for a living."

"Do you want my help or not?" Byulyi snaps impatiently, almost instinctively reaching to grab her handgun once again. "Either you take my offer or you get the hell out of here."

"Alright, alright, you got yourself a deal!" Seokjin heads into the kitchen, now officially residing at her current flat for the time being. "Relax, I'll even cook you dinner tonight, okay?"

"I want jjajangmyeon," Byulyi grumbles childishly as she stomps her way back into the living room, not so much as even batting an eye at the new rooming situation. "With pickled radish."

Seokjin can't help but grin. Despite the years of separation, it's almost as though they've fallen back into the same routine of the past, back when it was just them against the world. "Anything you want, princess."

"Don't call me princess!"

Seokjin shakes his head in amusement as he pops open the fridge door to prepare the ingredients. As he hums softly to himself and chops up a couple of vegetables, Byulyi's words from earlier come back to haunt him.

_"I waited for you, and all that did was show me what a fucking fool I was to ever trust you. I'm not making that same mistake again."_

Seokjin bites his lower lip so hard he draws blood.

 _Neither will I, Byul-ah_. _This time, I'm not leaving your side. I won't give up on_ us _._


	3. two;

Byulyi wakes up the next morning to the smell of men's aftershave and an all too familiar arm slung around her waist.

_That motherfucker._

She opens her eyes, and sure enough, Seokjin's smiling face is gazing down at her fondly, the tenderness in his expression making her heart pound for the very reason she shouldn't have agreed to this entire deal. "Good morning, little star."

"Your breath stinks," Byulyi immediately bites back, quick to remove his arm from her person and climb out of bed. Seokjin pouts and rests his head on his hand, elbow propped up on the pillows. He's shirtless and lying on top of her comforter, which means he did all of this just to fuck with her. "Get out of my room and go make me breakfast or else you're sleeping on the balcony instead of the couch tonight. And go put a shirt on, no one wants to see all that."

"See all of what?" Seokjin inquires innocently, though the cheeky grin on his face suggests that he knows exactly what he's doing. "You used to always like it when I showed off my 'broad sexy shoulders' to y-"

"Out!" Byulyi seethes, pointing angrily towards her bedroom door.

Seokjin complies this time, but just as he's about to leave, asks one last thing. "I... You still get nightmares?"

Byulyi grits her teeth. He must've come in because he heard her restlessness in the middle of the night. "It's none of your business."

She can see him bite his lower lip, an old habit he has when he's frustrated, but he doesn't press the issue any further. "You're right, sorry."

And with that, he takes his leave, sweatpants hanging low on his hips and hair still tousled from just waking up. Byulyi internally groans to herself at the sight. She hates it, hates how his bare shoulders are still one of the sexiest things she's ever seen.

Looks like she's going to need to start the morning off with a cold shower.

* * *

"We're going to a club in a few hours," Byulyi suddenly brings up as they sit next to one another on the couch, watching the news on the television and eating the omurice Seokjin has made for them for dinner. They've spent most of the day awkwardly skirting around each other- well, more like Seokjin trying to make small talk and Byulyi immediately fleeing the vicinity and answering everything with a hasty one word answer. This is quite possibly the first time she's actually initiated conversation today. It's frustrating, but he knows exactly why she's doing it.

Seokjin raises an eyebrow. "Never took you for the partying type."

Byulyi rolls her eyes. "I have a contact there, he should be able to provide us with some insight into your problem. I'm not about to become a sitting duck and wait for whoever's after you to figure out where I live. Pack a bag, too. If we get a lead, we may head out of town afterwards."

Despite knowing full well from Yongsun that Byulyi is still currently single, Seokjin tenses up at the mention of a sudden male pronoun. "Who is this 'he', exactly?"

"Friend of Yongsun's," Byulyi plays around with the rice on her plate, stirring it around so it absorbs the leftover demi-glace sauce. "She tried to set us up on a blind date a couple of years back, but we just sort of ended up as occasional drinking buddies instead. He's the one that helped secure this flat for me when I needed somewhere to stay under the radar."

Seokjin nearly chokes on his water. Leave it to that underground doctor and Byulyi's best friend to try and ruin his chances with her without even being here. He still can't forget just how close Yongsun's dagger actually came to stabbing him in the gut the other day. "O-Oh. I see."

"What?" Byulyi turns to look at him in confusion. "You never dated around or anything after you left?"

Seokjin can feel his face heat up. "N- Not really."

"Oh."

They eat the rest of their dinner in a comfortable yet tense silence, with Byulyi looking deep in thought and Seokjin scrambling for the words to say. 'Hey, I know you're mad at me from leaving all those years ago but the truth is I'm still so fucking in love with you that it hurts and was just too cowardly to confront my own feelings isn't exactly something Seokjin thinks Byulyi will take too well to at the moment. In fact, telling her that right now might as well get him kicked out knowing her temperament. He'd already pushed his limits a little too much this morning when he crawled into bed with her to cradle her in his arms until her whimpering stopped.

Seokjin sighs.

This whole 'Operation: Second Chance' might be a bit harder than he thought.


	4. three;

The Hwa:telier is a popular, high end venue nestled in a rather seedy, downtown location. The bouncer lets the two of them in almost immediately, whether it's because Byulyi is on Sunwoo's VIP guest list or because her current bodycon dress leaves little to no imagination of her curves, she isn't exactly sure. It's a dress she wouldn't be caught dead wearing on a regular day, but she needs to blend into the crowd at this club in order to avoid looking suspicious.

The moment they step into the building, Byulyi feels something warm being placed on top of her shoulders. She turns to see Seokjin adjusting his suit jacket over her, helping her cover up.

"You looked uncomfortable," is all he mumbles shyly.

"Th-Thanks," Byulyi tucks a lock of hair behind her ear, taking a moment to stare and silently admire the way Seokjin fills out his white collar button up, his hair gelled to one side making him look like some rich businessman's son out at the club to have a good time. "I'll head to the bar, are you good with infiltrating the VIP lounges by yourself?"

"For now," Seokjin scans the dance floor with a mild trace of disinterest, but in the blink of an eye, he replaces his expression with an arrogant and reckless demeanor, playing the perfect role of a rich young adult looking for some fun and trouble. Ever the professional. "I'll come find you if I need."

Byulyi nods, and with that, they part ways. She spots an empty stool by the bartop and is quick to sit down before someone else takes the seat, her presence quickly earning the attention and surprise of the bartender and her contact, Cha Sunwoo.

"And what might you be doing here?" Her friend laughs. "Should I prepare you the usual, on the rocks?"

"I'm not drinking tonight, Sunwoo." She shakes her head, drawing his attention to the men's suit jacket draped around her shoulders.

"Ooh, Byulyi, who's the new man? You know I'm obligated to update Yongsun if you find someone new on my turf," he teases.

Byulyi rolls her eyes. "It's Seokjin's, you dolt. We came here for some information."

Sunwoo's eyes grow comically wide. "Seokjin? You mean _Kim_ Seokjin? _The_ Kim Seokjin?! Your ex-boyfriend Kim Seokjin?! The one you haven't seen in years?"

"Is there another one?" Byulyi lets out a soft sigh. "I think I fucked up, Sunwoo. He showed up on my doorstep, asking for help. I said yes."

"After everything he put you through?" Sunwoo frowns. "Are you sure this is a good idea, Byulyi? Just say the word, and I can have a new identity somewhere else for you. He won't be able to find you again if that's what you want."

Byulyi runs a hand through her hair in frustration. "That's just the thing. I'm- I'm just so fucking mad about the whole thing. Mad at him for suddenly showing up after everything I did to try and forget about him. Mad at myself for even agreeing to help him in the first place. But most of all I'm mad that there's this part of me that- that wants the past back, that sees the same Seokjin I fell for all those years ago. Why can't I just fucking get over him after everything that's happened?"

Sunwoo hums in thought. "As someone that's been there during your lowest points and drunken episodes with Yongsun, I'd say that he isn't worth any more of your tears."

Byulyi nods in agreement. As much as it hurts, she knows that both she and Seokjin are different people now and have changed over time after going separate ways. There's no way to go back to how they used to be. Perhaps it really is better to just let it go and disappear after this whole assignment is over.

"But... if both of you really have changed, and he still feels the same as you do..." Sunwoo snorts at the thought. "That motherfucker is probably doing everything he can to win you back. Isn't that right, Kim-ssi?"

Byulyi turns around in surprise. Sure enough, standing behind her is a rather tense looking Seokjin, a light sheen of sweat on his forehead probably from weaving in and out between crowds of people. "When'd you get here?"

"Just now," Seokjin's tone is light, but his gaze is anything but as he stares down Sunwoo. "Your friend. He's handsome."

"...Thank you?"

"But I'm better looking," Seokjin eyes Sunwoo with an emotion that Byulyi can't exactly decipher. "I'm Seokjin."

"I know," Sunwoo's entire body language speaks of mischief. Byulyi doesn't have a very good feeling about this. "Byulyi's brought your name up before, back when we used to uh..."

"Used to what?" Seokjin interrogates harshly as he leans in, eyes flashing with what Byulyi finally recognizes as jealousy. As kind and gentlemanly as he acts, Seokjin surprisingly has always had a bit of a possessive streak.

"Used to nothing, we're just friends," Byulyi hisses, tugging Seokjin back by the collar before glaring at Sunwoo. "Stop riling him up for no reason, we're here for actual business today, oppa."

"You don't call me 'oppa'," Seokjin suddenly grumbles childishly, clearly now in a sour mood. It was bad enough he had to watch them get along and flirt from a distance earlier. Now she's calling the guy 'oppa'?! "I'm older than you, too."

"We were born in the same month! You're older than me by like two weeks!" Byulyi protests. "Nevermind that, we need information on who's been calling for hits lately. Someone's put one out for Seokjin recently. Someone with a good amount of authority and stupid enough to put a hit out on a fucking hitman."

"If you ask me, it sounds like someone's out for revenge," Sunwoo grips his chin in thought. "Wouldn't be the first time it happened. If someone's agreed to take on the job and know what you do for a living, I'd say whoever you're after is either incredibly cocky or good enough that they think they can take out one of their own. I can reach out to some other contacts, but at the moment, I don't have much for you all, sorry."

"That's alright," Byulyi lazily casts her gaze over the rest of the club. "Whoever the contracted killer is should be here tonight."

Sunwoo nearly drops the class he's wiping clean to avoid serving others at the moment. "You're shitting me."

"I went around and showed my face off to everyone in the VIP lounge area," Seokjin murmurs, eyes alert as he scans their surroundings as well. "If whoever is after me is as affluent as we suspect, they most likely have connections in a good amount of places, some which may have been here tonight at that very lounge."

"You're trying to smoke them out," Sunwoo nods in understanding, though something still seems off about the situation. Whereas Byulyi is passively observing those around them, Seokjin's gaze is much more active, almost as though he knows exactly who it is he's looking fo-

His train of thought is cut off when a shot suddenly goes off, the bullet narrowly missing the three of them and shattering a bottle of scotch sitting behind them on the bar wall. The sound of gunshots throws the rest of the club into chaos and like clockwork, Sunwoo ducks behind the bar countertop, a piece of furniture that was recently refashioned with bulletproof metal. He hears both Seokjin and Byulyi mutter curses under their breaths, scrambling to get in a defensive position. Several more consecutive shots are fired for a few more minutes, before everything goes quiet.

"Call the police," Sunwoo instructs one of the other bartenders taking cover behind the countertop, before peeking out to see if the coast is clear.

There are several passerby and random clubbers lying on the tile floor in a pool of blood in front of him, though none of them seem to be anyone important. Collateral damage. There are other survivors hiding or lying here and there, but the assailant, as well as Seokjin and Byulyi are nowhere to be seen. They've probably hightailed it out of the club at this point. Sunwoo reaches into his back pocket to grab his cell phone and dials Yongsun's number.

Something is off with Seokjin's story, and if Sunwoo's guess is right, Byulyi could be in a lot more danger than she realizes.


	5. four;

"When was the last time you had to hotwire a car?" Byulyi asks as she peers over Seokjin's shoulder while he fiddles with the group of wires underneath the car steering wheel.

"It's been a while," he admits, a smile spreading across his face when he finally sees a spark flash between the two wires in his hand and hears the sound of the car's engine roar to life. "There we go."

"Thank god," Byulyi mutters as she hops into the passenger seat, buckling up her seat belt as Seokjin peels out of the parking lot and onto the road. They managed to lose the hitman on the way out of Hwa:telier long enough to find a car old enough to hotwire and steal, but it wouldn't be long before the hitman was on their trail again. "Really didn't think that bastard would open fire in the middle of the club. I hope Sunwoo's alright."

"He's probably fine," Seokjin grumbles, clearly expressing his displeasure at the bartender's name being brought up once again. "You sure nothing happened between the two of you?"

"Even if something did, which it did _not_ , it would be none of your fucking business," Byulyi snaps.

"Can you blame a guy for checking out the competition?"

"The what?"

"Nothing." Seokjin lets out a curse when he peers into the rearview mirror and sees a black Cadillac following them in the distance. "Shit, that guy works fast. Hold on tight, sweetheart."

"Don't call me sweet-" Byulyi's words are momentarily cut off by a panicked squeak as the car lurches forward. Seokjin is flooring the gas pedal, hands tightly gripping the steering wheel as he tries to lose the car behind them. "-heart!"

"Fucking hate car chases," Seokjin mutters to himself as he take a sharp left onto the highway. "Did I tell you about how Taehyung got a speeding ticket the same exact day he got his official driver's license?"

"This is not the time to be telling me a story about your younger brother!" Byulyi screeches, clinging to the grab handle above her head for dear life.

"He finally got the balls to ask out that girl he'd always been sweet on in high school. Wheein was her name, I think." Seokjin continues casually as though he wasn't going fifty miles over the speed limit with a killer chasing after them. "He's always been a bit of a romantic. Always told me how lucky I was to have you in my life. Guess I should've listened to him all those years ago, huh?"

"I should've guessed you were a shitty driver after your friends insisted I drive whenever we went out on dates," Byulyi closes her eyes and takes a deep breath in an attempt to calm herself down. Now that she thinks about it, this is somehow the very first time she's sat in a car Seokjin was driving.

"Hey, we're still alive, aren't we? Wait-" Seokjin squints as he stares up at the road ahead of him. "Is that a bridge?"

"Don't tell me to open my eyes until we get to wherever the hell you're taking us." Byulyi says as she keeps a hand clasped tightly over her eyes, the other still grabbing onto the handle above her head.

"Byul, I have an idea. You're not going to like it though."

"Oh my god."

"Unbuckle your seatbelt."

"Are you out of your goddamn mind?"

Before Seokjin can reply, there's the sound of a gunshot, and the car rear window shatters from behind them.

"That fucker's shooting at us from the car!" Seokjin seethes. "Unbuckle your goddamn seatbelt, Byul, we don't have a choice now. It's only a matter of time before he takes out one of our tires and sends us into a wreck of flames!"

Against her own survival instinct, Byulyi complies and unbuckles her seatbelt, watching with panicked eyes as Seokjin does the same. "Okay, now lower your window all the way down."

Byulyi's eyes widen in realization as she does what he asks. "You're fucking insane."

"We don't exactly have a lot of options going for us at the moment!" Seokjin veers the car right, the screeching of metal against metal all around them as he drives the car as close as he can against the bridge railing. "Do you trust me?"

"Hell no!"

"Too bad, we're jumping on three! One!"

"I should've shot you down the second you walked into my flat." Byulyi moans in regret.

"Two!"

"I cannot believe you're actually making us-"

"Three!" Seokjin yells, climbing up onto his seat and grabbing Byulyi by the waist. The car lurches since there's no one controlling the steering wheel, the tires shrieking against the pavement as the car loses control. Seokjin grits his teeth and throws himself out Byulyi's car door window, taking her with him and holding him tight in his arms. They're airborne, weightless in the air for the briefest of moments before gravity kicks in, sending them plummeting down into the dark depths of the river below them.

Seokjin wraps an arm tightly around Byulyi's waist, using his other hand to cup the back of her head for protection and hold her close to his person. She's clenching onto the fabric of his shirt so hard he can feel her trembling fingernails start to dig into his skin. While she's unaware, Seokjin leans in and presses a gentle kiss against the crown of her head before finally closing his eyes.

And then they freefall.


	6. five;

"- miserable fucking jackass, I can't believe he actually fucking- ugh!" is the first thing Seokjin hears as he slowly rouses back to consciousness. He slowly blinks his eyes open to find himself lying along a patch of damp grass by the riverside under the starry night sky. All of the clothes on his person are soaking wet, but the suit jacket he had originally given to Byulyi is now laying on top of him, wrung dry and covering him to keep him warm against the light breeze.

Byulyi is squatting several feet away in just her bra and undergarments, wringing the water out of her bodycon dress all the while muttering curses under her breath, most of her previously concealed weapons laying by her feet to dry. The moonlight casts a soft glow down on her pale, dewy skin, and Seokjin can't help but swallow at the tempting sight before him, accidentally voicing his thoughts out loud. "I've really missed this view."

Byulyi startles in surprise, turning around to see him propped up on his elbows, hungry gaze taking in her moonlit figure. "You're finally awake."

"And you're no longer an A-cup," Seokjin lets out a low whistle of appreciation.

Byulyi's face colors in embarrassment upon remembering just how little she's currently wearing, and chucks a nearby rock at him in anger. "Turn around, you damn pervert! Can't you see I'm doing something private over here?!"

Seokjin laughs as he dodges the stone, quite liking the way Byulyi's pretty soft face glows pink under the dim light of the stars. "Why are you acting so shy all of a sudden? It's not like I haven't seen everything already."

"Why you-!" Byulyi huffs indignantly, stomping over to take the suit jacket back into her possession to cover herself up, cracking her damp dress at him like a whip. Her attack makes contact, and actually stings quite a bit as the tail end of her dress whip smacks hard against his chest.

"Man down! Man down!" Seokjin cries in over-exaggerated agony, clutching at his chest as though she had shot him with a gun. "I've been hit!"

"Good," Byulyi snorts, not in the least concerned with his state of well-being or his theatrics at the moment. "That's one less problem for me to worry about then. In case you forgot, we're still being chased by a hitman, and an aggressive one at that."

"He's pretty reckless, that's for sure," Seokjin stops his little act to seriously mull over and process what's happened so far. "Definitely took out some random bystanders at the club when he was chasing us out. He's not afraid of putting a bullet through anyone else that's in the way of his mission, that's for sure."

"I guess if your target's another hitman then there needs to be room for some error and more risk-taking," Byulyi sighs. "We should have taken that into account before smoking him out like that. I miscalculated."

"You did what anyone in our field would have done in this situation," Seokjin stands up and winces at the feeling of the cold wet clothes on his body shifting as he moves. "We'll probably need to go on the move from now on, we can't guarantee your flat is a safe location considering he was all but waiting for us like that at the club already. If someone at that VIP lounge had notified him of our presence, it would've taken some time for him to get there before that attack happened."

"You're right," Byulyi nods in agreement. "There's not much we can really do until I get a name from Sunwoo. I caught a quick glimpse of their face, but no one I recognized."

"Guess there's only one thing to do," Seokjin begins unbuttoning his shirt and pulling down his pants.

"What- What are you doing?!" Byulyi averts her gaze in a panic, clearly flustered by his actions. "What do you mean only one thing to do?!"

"I'm going to wring the water out of my clothes like you did since we have the time, what did you think I was- oh." Seokjin can't help but burst out into laughter once the realization hits. "My goodness, and here you were calling me a pervert. I guess we never did it outdoors back then, huh? If I had known that's what you were into..."

"That's not what I meant!" Byulyi squawks in embarrassment, face as red as a tomato. "What was I supposed to think when you suddenly started stripping in front of me with no explanation?!"

"And what was I supposed to think when I woke up and you were in nothing but your underwear?" Seokjin raises an eyebrow. "Moon Byulyi, are you trying to seduce me?"

"Fuck you!"

"I mean, if that's what you want to do..." Seokjin takes a step closer in her direction, a teasing but also predatory look in his eyes.

Byulyi immediately tugs his suit jacket tighter around her practically naked body, brandishing her damp dress as a makeshift whip once again. "Don't- Don't come near me, Kim Seokjin! I swear to god, if you so much as try and make a move on me, I'll drown you in this river with my own two hands!"

"After everything you did to pull me out of the water and save me?" Seokjin lets out a low chuckle, peeling his white button up off and twisting the fabric with as much strength as he can, watching the water slowly drip down to the ground. "Relax, princess, you know I'm not that kind of guy anyways. If it makes you feel better, I'll wring my clothes out right over here, okay? No intimacy required."

"... But I don't."

"Huh?" Seokjin looks up in confusion only to meet Byulyi's melancholic gaze as she stares at him forlornly.

"I... I don't know... if you're that kind of guy. Not anymore, at least." Byulyi turns away, and Seokjin can practically _feel_ his heart seize in his chest at her words. Despite the fact that neither of them have moved a single step, it's almost as though he can feel her drifting away, distancing herself from him once again with just her body language. And it _hurts_ , hurts more than when she whipped him with her dress earlier, more than when they leapt out of a stolen car and off a goddamn bridge and made impact with water from tens of meters above, when all that was there to welcome them was the cold, unfeeling river current that swept them away to god knows where.

"Byul..."

"I- I thought I knew what kind of guy you were, but we both know how that turned out, don't we?" Byulyi lets out a bitter laugh, her usual confident frame looking smaller than ever as she looks up at the stars, almost as though she can't bear to look at Seokjin right now. And considering everything he did, maybe she can't right now. "We... What the hell are we even doing out here? It's been- it's been years and all of a sudden here we are, looking like drowned cats pretending that we're somehow still the same two people that- that-"

Her lips quiver with emotion, and even if she doesn't finish her sentence, Seokjin knows exactly what she was about to say.

_The same two people that fell in love with one another all those years ago._

He drops his twisted up shirt to the ground, wringing completely forgotten, making his way over to where she's standing. He gently holds her by the shoulders, startling her out of her stupor as he tries to tell her what he should've said the moment he showed up in her life once again. He fervently searches her eyes as they glimmer with unshed tears, full of pain but more importantly, full of hope.

"Byulyi, look at me. You're right, we're not the same people we were back then. But so what? The 'me' back then... god, the Seokjin back then was a total idiot. He was such a fucking moron, okay? He could have had everything he ever wanted- no, he _did_ have everything he ever wanted in life. He had a decent living- okay, I guess being a hitman isn't exactly the most decent, but it pays the rent doesn't it? And he had this stupid, annoying little brother, but they loved each other to death and they knew that, no matter how much they bickered. And most importantly, he- he had the girl of his dreams. She was smart, strong, funny, and every time she smiled, all he felt was happiness. But that- that Seokjin was a fucking coward, and he... he was scared. Scared of... of not being enough, of everything somehow being this crazy lucid dream. And he ran. He ran from everything like he had like the coward he was because he was stupid enough to believe that he didn't deserve any of that happiness in his life, and instead all he ended up doing was hurting the person he cared most about in the whole world."

Seokjin takes in a shaky, deep breath. He's never said any of this out loud before. Not to anyone, not even to himself. "And that is... the one thing that I will never forgive him- forgive myself for. Byulyi, the truth is-"

He's cut off by the sudden and jarring ringing of a cell phone. Byulyi blinks, before murmuring, "That's- That's mine..."

"Ah," Seokjin quickly lets go of her and awkwardly steps to the side so she can slip past him and bend over to pick up her phone, drying next to her handgun on the grass.

"Hello? Unnie!" Byulyi's eyes widen in surprise. "How did you- what? I can't- hold on."

Seokjin watches as Byulyi puts the phone on speaker mode so she can fiddle around with her waterlogged phone. Almost immediately, he hears an all too familiar high pitched voice from the phone, albeit in cut off, static phrases.

"Yah!.... -jin!"

Seokjin rolls his eyes. Even without any other context, he knows Yongsun's probably cursing him out over the phone. Considering the shitty timing of her call, he's doing the exact same thing back to her in his head.

"Unnie, my phone took on too much water damage after we fell into the river, I'll call you back when we find a motel, okay?"

"... river?!"

"Bye, unnie." And with that, Byulyi hangs up with the tap of her finger. She looks at Seokjin with an apologetic look on her face. "Sorry about that."

"N-No, it's cool. It's getting pretty late, we should... I guess we should go find that motel, huh?" Seokjin scratches the back of his neck and lets out a forced chuckle. A peace offering.

Byulyi's gaze softens, before nodding in agreement. "Yeah, that sounds good."

"You should probably put your clothes on first before we head out, though what you're wearing right now might just get us a free room."

"You- Put your own fucking shirt back on first, you goddamn pervert!!"


	7. six;

One small hike through the forestry along the riverside and a detour to a sketchy thrift shop later, the two of them are finally dressed in inconspicuous, dry clothes and ready to check into a motel room.

"And how will you be paying, sir?" the receptionist at the check-in desk asks.

"Cash," Seokjin immediately replies, reaching for his still damp wallet from his back pocket. The dollar bills he pulls out are slightly wrinkled from being run under an old, dinky hand dryer at a nearby gas station, but the receptionist accepts them regardless, counting out the bills to confirm the amount before handing them their room key. "Have a nice evening with your girlfriend."

"He's not my-" Byulyi's words are cut off when Seokjin clasps a hand over her mouth, flashing an innocent smile at the lady.

"Thank you, enjoy your night as well," He drags her over to an empty hallway, only to yelp at the sudden pain that spreads across his hand. "You- You bit me!"

"Why'd you cut me off?" Byulyi hisses, crossing her arms in her newly purchased jean jacket. "I was just clarifying our relationship to her."

"This isn't exactly a five star hotel, our privacy's not guaranteed here." Seokjin glances around to make sure there's no one around, before making his way down the hallway to their room, Byulyi following closely behind. "Whoever it is after us has done their research. We want to lay low on the radar right now and blend in in case someone comes sniffing around. Some random couple checking in isn't memorable, but whatever you were about to explain to her about our past sure would have been."

"I wasn't going to say that much!" Byulyi protests with a huff, watching as Seokjin swipes the card key over the door handle, the door unlocking with a soft click. "Just that we..."

The words die in her mouth as Seokjin flips a switch on the wall next to them, the flickering fluorescent ceiling lights illuminating the small shabby room, where only a single queen size bed sits in the center of the room.

_"Oh, hell no."_

* * *

"This really isn't necessary," Seokjin mumbles as he watches Byulyi line the extra pillows along the middle of the bed, so as to create a physical barrier to separate the two of them when they sleep.

"This wouldn't have been necessary if we had gotten a room with two beds," Byulyi mutters in irritation. "This is what happens when you let the receptionist assume you're a couple!"

"This was the cheapest room I could get with the cash on me," Seokjin pinches the bridge of his nose in exasperation. "I can just sleep on the floor if you're really that uncomfortable."

"No, I-" Byulyi lets out a sigh and climbs under the covers, running a hand through her freshly showered hair. "I'm just- I'm frazzled and confused and stressed and taking it out on you for no reason, sorry."

"I'm kind of the one that dragged you into this mess to begin with," Seokjin smiles ruefully. "It's fine, Byul-ah. Really."

The look on Byulyi's face tells him that everything is in fact not fine, but she doesn't say anything else except for a quiet and nearly inaudible "goodnight, Jinnie", before switching off the lamp by her side of the bed and turning around, back facing him.

Seokjin's heart skips a beat. It's been so long since he's heard that nickname come from her. _Jinnie_. It was her pet name for him back then, and as much as he had always despised when others called him that, he couldn't help but melt the moment she addressed him with that name in the past, oftentimes teasingly, or simply in excitement before bounding into his arms to tell him about her day.

He misses that.

Despite crawling under the covers and turning off the lamp on his side of the bed as well, Seokjin doesn't fall asleep. Not because he can't, but rather because he knows what's to come, or at the very least, has a slight hunch of what's to come. Byulyi's breathing has already steadied, meaning she's most likely already asleep. It must have taken a lot of effort to haul his unconscious body against the river currents to the place they had been earlier and tired her out for her to knock out so quickly. Seokjin leans over the pillow barricade, eyes softening at the sight of Byulyi's relaxed, moonlit face. The almost permanent furrow in her brow is gone, and she finally looks at peace.

But then he hears it, just as he had guessed.

A whimper.

A year or two after they started dating, Byulyi had run into a bit of trouble after one of her assignments. One thing had led to another, but in the end, before those people were finally caught, she ended up seeing an innocent child die right before her eyes.

Nightmares from that time would occasionally haunt her every now and then, but Seokjin would always be there to hold her in his arms as soon as he heard the whimpering start, slowly rocking her back to sleep. After hearing it happen once again last night from his spot sleeping on the couch, Seokjin had developed an inkling that Byulyi's nightmares may have gotten much worse since he left.

Byulyi's whimpering gets louder, sweat beginning to bead across her pale forehead as she begins to shift restlessly in her sleep. Seokjin shoves the pillows between them down towards the foot of the bed, reaching over to carefully and gently tug Byulyi into his hold, sitting up so he can let her lean against his bare chest, rocking her gently in an attempt to lull her back to a peaceful sleep. He strokes her hair lightly, murmuring softly in her ear. "Shhhh, it'll be okay, Byulyi-ah. It's going to be okay, Jinnie's here."

"-go."

Seokjin freezes in surprise. Byulyi never used to talk in her nightmares.

"Don't go," Byulyi's plead is desperate as she blindly grabs at the air, an almost childish air to her tone. "Please don't leave me, Jinnie."

Seokjin's heart breaks. Byulyi's nightmares aren't about that child's death from all those years ago.

They're about _him_.

"I'm sorry," Byulyi hiccups, a single tear rolling down her cheek as her face twists, an expression so vulnerable and pained that Seokjin can feel a sharp pain stab at his chest over and over again. "I'll be better, Jinnie, please don't leave."

Seokjin reaches out with a trembling hand to take hers into his grasp, his thumb tracing slow circles against the top of her hand. His voice chokes with emotion as he pulls her tighter against him, doing everything he possibly can to ease her pain, her heartache. "You did nothing wrong, Byulyi-ah, it's all my fault, okay? Please don't cry, Jinnie's not leaving, not this time."

As he sits there slowly cradling her back to sleep, Seokjin can't help but wonder how long she's had these new nightmares, how many cold and restless nights she's spent begging for him to return, unsure if he'd ever show back up in her life. Something wet lands against his cheek, and Seokjin suddenly realizes that he's crying. He burrows his face into Byulyi's hair, drowning in the smell of cheap motel shampoo as he silently sheds tears of his own.

That night, as he's lulled to sleep with the faint, but comforting thump of Byulyi's heartbeat, Seokjin dreams of a future with Byulyi, one where he hadn't made the biggest mistake of his life and left her side all those years ago.


	8. seven;

Byulyi wakes up to the call of her bladder and the urgent need to pee after what is unexpectedly but quite possibly the best night of rest she's gotten in years. The other half of the bed is already empty, the pillow barricade seemingly untouched. She rubs the sleep out of her eyes as she shuffles into the bathroom on autopilot, only to blink blearily in surprise upon the sudden sight of Seokjin wrapping a towel over his lower body, having just stepped out of the shower.

"Shit, sorry," she stammers, trying her best to avert her gaze as she backs up to let him slip past her, despite every aching bone in her body telling her to take a peek at what she already knows is Seokjin's lean and muscular upper body, toned from years of working out to stay in shape for their occupation.

"No worries, it's all yours," he murmurs as he steps past her and out back towards the room, his voice still slightly raspy from just waking up.

Why must the world test her like this?

Byulyi finally gives in and sneaks a peek, her eyes following the trail of a water droplet as it makes its way down down the expanse of Seokjin's sculpted back, before eventually rolling down towards the crevice where his towel meets skin, disappearing in an almost painfully teasing manner.

She swallows nervously at the sight. Curse him and those stupid, broad shoulders and that dumb, handsome face. All they're good for is distracting her.

The rest of the morning is uneventful. After relieving her bladder and brushing her teeth, Byulyi ties her hair up in a loose bun behind her and fits a baseball cap over her head. Seokjin's gone out to grab them some breakfast, which gives her some time alone to go find a payphone and call Yongsun back. She scribbles a quick note for Seokjin in case he returns first and leaves it on the foot of the bed as she slips out of the room, hands stuffed casually in her jacket pockets as she meanders her way around the streets by the motel.

She eventually finds one a block or two away, stepping into the booth and inserting several coins into the slot, dialing a number she has memorized by heart. The phone doesn't even ring once before someone answers. "About fucking time!"

Byulyi rolls her eyes, despite the fact that the person on the other end of the line obviously can't see her do so. "It's like eight in the morning, unnie. How much earlier did you think I was going to get up?!"

"I don't know," Yongsun's tone is clearly exasperated over the phone. "Didn't you say you usually end up getting out of bed around six or seven because you can't sleep well?"

"Yeah, about that..."

"Oh my god. You slept with him, didn't you?!"

"What?!" Byulyi nearly drops the phone in shock as she sputters a reply. "Why was that your first conclusion?!"

"Why else would you have been able to sleep in?!" Yongsun's voice is shrill. "Was the hate sex better or worse than it was back when you two were a thing?"

"We didn't-!" Byulyi starts, only to take a deep breath and lower her volume. The last thing she needs is this entire street hearing about her mess of a life right now. "Nothing happened! We found a motel and we went to bed. I probably knocked out because I had to haul his dumb ass through a fucking river and onto the shore."

"Remind me again exactly how you all ended up in a river?" There's a faint robotic voice in the background on Yongsun's side, something that sounds like a GPS navigation system. She's probably driving somewhere.

Byulyi sighs. "I- Seokjin came to me because someone put a hit out on him and hired me as his bodyguard. We tried to smoke the guy out at Hwa:telier but he was a lot more reckless than we anticipated. Long story short, we ended up in a car chase and Seokjin hauled us out of the car and over a bridge before the guy could shoot the tires flat and send us into a crash."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, let's back up for a hot second. You actually agreed to Seokjin's request?"

"Whose fault is it that he showed up at my front door in the first place?" Byulyi hisses.

"I didn't mean to!" comes Yongsun's protest. "He brought up the town name and I thought he already found out where you were staying!"

"Why would he have sought you out in the first place if he already knew where I lived?"

"I- Okay, that was my bad, but listen, Byulyi," Yongsun's tone turns serious. "You need to watch out. Sunwoo called me, and he thinks there's something Seokjin isn't telling you."

"There's probably plenty he isn't telling me, it's not like we've exactly had time to catch up." Byulyi snorts.

"That's not what I meant," Yongsun's voice is urgent. "We- We think he's lying to you."

Byulyi pauses. "About what? About the hit? Someone literally shot at us last night, unnie."

"I know, but-" Yongsun sounds frustrated. "Just be careful, okay? You- I know you, Byul. And I know how you still feel about that bastard. I don't want to see you get hurt again."

"... I will, unnie, I'll be careful. I should head back soon, I'll text you once I go and get a new burner phone." Byulyi exhales sharply through her nose as she hangs up, letting out a quiet sigh. Knowing it herself is one thing, but having her friend say it out loud like that really forces her to face the utterly pathetic and indisputable truth.

She's still hopelessly in love with Seokjin and absolutely fucking screwed.

* * *

"You were out for quite a bit," Seokjin jokes lightheartedly, tossing a fast food breakfast sandwich in her direction. "Any longer and I would've gotten worried."

"I had to get a new phone," Byulyi huffs, catching the projectile with ease, unwrapping it before she even sits down. It smells of grease and clogged arteries, but considering how she hasn't eaten since they left her flat yesterday, Byulyi scarfs it down in under a minute. "Any new information?"

"I called up an old friend of mine since my backup phone didn't suffer any water damage, he said he'll get back to me in an hour or two if Sunwoo can't find anything." Seokjin pokes a straw into the carton of milk in his hand as he watches a still hungry Byulyi make her way towards him, digging through the bags of food he brought back and stuffing her mouth full of fries. Her cheeks bulge like a squirrel hiding nuts in its mouth and the sight makes him chuckle. "Cute."

Byulyi nearly chokes, thumping at her chest to dislodge the food that almost goes down the wrong pipe. Seokjin hands over a bottle of water that she gratefully accepts. This is too much for her. There's too much unresolved tension between the two of them, too many ambiguous signals. She needs to set things straight with Seokjin before she does exactly what Yongsun warned her against. She takes a gulp of water before speaking up once more. "I- listen, Seokjin..."

"What's up?" he looks up from his phone, eyes almost immediately finding hers earnestly. She hates it. Hates how attentive he is, how genuinely good of a guy he was and still is and how much harder all of that makes him to truly dislike. Hates that her heart still thrums every time they meet gazes, like it was just yesterday when he took the plunge and asked her out on a date after months of greasy pick-up lines and flirting.

"We- Yes, we've had a past and everything, but I think-" Byulyi takes a deep breath. "I'm here to protect you and put a bullet through whoever it is that's trying to kill you. This is business. Nothing more, nothing less. I know things have been weird ever since you showed up and I'll admit I'm partially to blame but... let's just put things behind us for the time being, okay? No weird tension, no flirting, no bringing up the past. We can just be civil acquaintances, a client and his-"

"No."

"-what?" Byulyi blinks, not expecting to have been interrupted so suddenly. "I- what do you mean 'no'?"

Seokjin stands up and takes a step in her direction. And then another. It's like her feet are glued to the ground, her posture completely frozen in some inexplicable emotion as he approaches, until he's standing toe to toe with her, their faces inches apart. The look on Seokjin's face is dark, and his eyes glint with an expression that Byulyi has never seen on him before. "I said no."

"I heard you the first time, what I don't understand is why-"

"I've already told you once, Byulyi," Seokjin's voice is firm, determination set in his eyes. "What I did back then was the biggest mistake of my fucking life, and something I'll never forgive myself for. Which is exactly why I can't let you do this, try to pretend and act like we're strangers when the truth is I never stopped loving you."

"You-" Byulyi's eyes widen in shock at the sudden bomb he's dropped on her.

"I don't expect you to forgive me anytime soon. I don't know if you'll ever forgive me for walking out of your life back then." Seokjin's expression flashes with guilt. "But I'm not that same Seokjin anymore. And because of that, there's no way in hell that I can let you walk back out of my life after all of this is over."

Byulyi is too stunned to speak, all of her emotions in a total whirlwind in her mind. Seokjin steps back, giving her space to breathe and process everything he's said. "I know that was a lot, and I know you probably already have a lot on your mind with the hitman after us and everything, but I'm not going to back away anymore, I'm not running this time around."

He steps past her, heading towards the door. "I'm going to go check out now, we should get on the move soon."

"You- you jackass!" Byulyi spins around to glare at him, tears of anger and frustration prickling at her eyes. Why does he have to go and destroy all the walls she's built up over all these years with just a couple of words?! "I- you- you're so infuriating and you never just go along with what I say and I- I don't-!"

_I don't know how much longer I can resist you._

Seokjin turns to look back at her and smirks. "Mark my words, princess. I'm going to win you back, no matter how long it takes. So until then, _don't you dare give up on us_."


	9. eight;

Byulyi knows she's being childish.

Following Seokjin's confession and shocking outburst, she's resorted to giving him the cold shoulder as they sit in a newly stolen car several blocks away from the motel. The leather surface of the car's steering wheel is cool under the palms of her hands as she pulls out of the parking lot and turns onto the streets, heading towards the nearest interstate.

"You know, just because the last time I drove we ended up in a river doesn't mean that I'm actually a bad driver," Seokjin protests jokingly as he leans back in the passenger seat, peering over at Byulyi with imploring eyes.

Byulyi, who can feel the heavy weight of his burning gaze from her right, chooses to silently scoff instead of properly replying. Seokjin doesn't take much offense to her actions or look all too discouraged by her behavior, seemingly rather used to this kind of behavior from her. Now that she thinks back on it, whenever they'd get into an argument, she'd always become huffy and give him the cold shoulder until one of them finally apologized. It pisses her off to know that even after all these years, he can still read her like a book and know exactly how to deal with her even in this state.

Don't you dare give up on us, he says. Isn't that exactly what he did all those years ago when he left?

As she silently stews in her pointless anger, Seokjin begins humming along to the radio, the sweet, melodic tune ringing all throughout the car and making it hard for her to stay mad at him. Seokjin has always had a great singing voice, even back when they first started dating. He'd sing when they cooked together in the kitchen, he'd sing in the shower, hell, he'd even sometimes sing Byulyi to sleep on her more restless nights when she asked with a pout and puppy eyes. Byulyi likes to think that given his talent and good looks, her ex-boyfriend would have made it pretty far in the entertainment industry should he have pursued that career path instead of one of crime. Maybe if they had met on another timeline, maybe if they had met under different circumstances...

Maybe, maybe, maybe.

Byulyi swallows hard. Seokjin is right. Even if she tries to suppress the memories, tries to forget everything that's happened between them, their past and their connection are undeniable. If she wants to get over all this once and for all, she's going to have to face this problem head on.

But first... Byulyi grits her teeth and presses her foot down harder on the accelerator.

First they have a troublesome CEO to take care of.

* * *

It's tranquil up top on the 60th floor of the towering Walsong Investments office building in downtown Seoul.

It's already a quarter past ten in the evening, Byulyi and Seokjin having spent most of their day driving all the way up the South Korean peninsula just to arrive at their destination. Shortly after checking out and hitting the road, Seokjin's other friend had finally updated them on who it was that put out the hit. CEO of Walsong Investments, Lee Byungho.

Walsong has long been known to be involved in some shady white collar business, though the CEO's connections with people in higher places and bribery money earned from their laundering business with offshore accounts are typically enough to keep the authorities off their tail. While something about the company and their business sound slightly familiar to Byulyi, she can't quite put her finger on why. It's not like she exactly remembers all the jobs she's had to complete, much less Seokjin's own long list of previous assignments. Most likely scenario is that Lee Byungho had one of his better henchmen taken out by Seokjin at some point in the past and wanted revenge.

They arrived several hours earlier, grabbing dinner and making sure to stop by the shop of one of Seoul's best known underground weapons' dealers and one of Seokjin's old friends, Min Yoongi, to reload on supplies. The look of surprise that had crossed his typically expressionless face when he saw Seokjin walk in with Byulyi of all people was absolutely priceless. After exchanging a few quick words and a promise to meet over coffee in the near future, they headed out, making their way to stake out the Walsong Investments office building and its blueprints. It didn't take long for them to figure out how to disable the security cameras for later that night after a quick call to another one of Seokjin's old friends, an internationally infamous hacker that went by the alias JK.

After taking out the security guards on shift, Seokjin had signalled to Byulyi to keep watch by the elevators and patrol the main lobby area of the 60th floor as he made his way down the hall to where their main target was sitting in his extravagant office. A quick check in the company's nearly vacant parking lot revealed that the CEO's car is still there, meaning the CEO himself should indeed be here, probably staying overtime to look over a couple of illegal deals he can't view in broad daylight.

Lee Byungho is reading through a classified document when an unfamiliar and sarcastic voice suddenly sounds from behind him. "My, look at that. Lee CEO, hard at work again."

"Who-" Lee Byungho turns around urgently, fear coursing through his veins. His office door should be shut and locked, so how did someone manage to sneak into the room, much less without him knowing?! "Who's there?"

There's no one there.

Something's not right. But before he even gets the chance to so much as reach for the hidden pistol strapped to the bottom of his desk table, someone yanks his office chair back, throwing him off balance and onto the floor. He hisses a curse in pain as his head slams against the edge of his bookshelf, only to open his eyes and find himself staring at the end of a silencer attached to a handgun.

Seokjin's smile is unnervingly cold, the look in his eyes unnervingly tranquil. "Good evening, Mr. Lee."

"What- Who are you? How did you get in here?!" Byungho's eyes dart left and right in a panic. "I don't know who sent you, but whatever they gave you, I can promise you double! Triple even!"

Seokjin's tall and imposing form stands over him as he lifts his leg up so as to step down on the other's throat, making it harder for the other to properly take in oxygen. "I don't believe you're exactly in a position to be making offers. Either you do what I say or I'll make you fucking wish you were never born, capiche?"

Byungho nods with what little range of motion he has, gasping for air as his hands claw at Seokjin's military boot adding pressure on his neck.

"Good," Seokjin lifts his foot back up, watching with no trace of mercy as Byungho coughs and wheezes, finally able to breathe again. "Call off your hit on Moon Byulyi."

"I don't know who you're- AUGH!" Byungho grasps at his left leg in pain, blood beginning to pool beneath him. "Fuck!"

"If you lie to me again, I'll do more than put a bullet through your kneecap," Seokjin hisses, his finger still on the trigger. "I'm not going to ask you again. Call your hit on Moon Byulyi _off._ "

"I- I can't!" Byungho finally blurts, his eyes trembling in fear as he watches the look on Seokjin's face darken. "I'm not lying, I really can't!"

"You can't?" Seokjin threateningly trains his gun so it's aiming at the man's right kneecap. "Or you won't?"

"I really can't," Byungho pleads desperately, beginning to shake as he continues to lose more blood, the pain nearly unbearable at this point. "You have to believe me! The hitman I hired, he- he has a policy! No refunds, I send the money and he gets the job done, that's what we agreed on! I have all the information in the filing cabinet against that wall over there, I swear."

"I see." Seokjin hums disinterestedly.

"I've told you everything, alright? So just- just let me go, please," Byungho clenches his teeth in pain as he begins to feel lightheaded from the excessive blood loss.

"Oh?" Seokjin raises an eyebrow, his demeanor still indifferent to the man's current struggles. "And when did I ever promise you that?"

"You- You said-"

"I said," Seokjin interrupts sharply, "That if you did as I say, I wouldn't make you wish you were never born. I never said anything about letting you go, now did I? Not to mention you couldn't even fulfil my one request properly. Tell me now, why should I spare your miserable excuse of a life?"

"Y-You-!" Byungho glares at the other in a final outburst of anger. "You'll pay for this, you bastard! Do you know who I am?!"

With a single fluid motion, Seokjin steps down on the knee he shot earlier, Byungho's howls of pain ringing across the room. He leans down, sneering down at the corrupt and spineless man before him. "Do I know who you are? Get over yourself. All I need to know is that you're the idiotic fool that dared to put a hit out on _my girl_ all because of some petty grudge."

"Your girl? Wait, you- you're-" Byungho's eyes widen and his face pales in realization, but it's too late.

Seokjin pulls the trigger.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> cat's out of the bag! did any of you all guess this was what seokjin's big secret was?


	10. nine;

"Any luck on calling the hit off?" Byulyi asks as Seokjin steps back into the lobby area, wiping the blood off of his gun nonchalantly.

Seokjin shakes his head with a sigh. "The hitman he hired has a no refunds policy and the money's long been wired."

Byulyi nods in understanding, jamming at the elevator down button on the wall nearby. "Figures. A lot of clients have been doing that recently to ensure their hit gets taken out, regardless if the one who called it is alive or dead. Whoever's after you must really have a bone to pick with you, huh?"

"Yeah, they sure do." The smile on Seokjin's face doesn't quite reach his eyes, though Byulyi isn't quite sure why.

Her brow furrows. "You okay? Maybe I should have gone in and asked instead. I guess meeting the guy who wants you dead in person isn't exactly pleasant?"

"Hmm?" Seokjin blinks in confusion for a second, before he realizes what she's concerned about. "No, Byul, it's fine. Really. Just sucks because now we have to go and find the bastard still chasing after us."

"Thought you would've enjoyed the extra time you get to spend with me," Byulyi jokes lightly, surprising both Seokjin and herself when the words leave her mouth.

Seokjin's tune changes almost instantly, his eyes flashing with mischief. "Why, Moon Byulyi. Are you falling for me again?"

The elevator dings, signalling its arrival.

"I- Keep on dreaming, Kim!" Byulyi sputters out, her face heating up in embarrassment as she quickly steps into the elevator to avoid eye contact.

 _I can't fall for you again if I never fell out of love with you to begin with_.

"Whatever you say," Seokjin sings playfully, following her into the small space, a grin working its way on his face as he watches her press the button to the first floor in her flustered state. "You never could resist my manly charms."

"Your dad jokes do _not_ count as manly charms, believe it or not," Byulyi is quick to retort with a snort.

"You still laugh at them regardless," Seokjin points out smugly.

"Yoongi told me if I told you I hated them, you'd just end up telling me more of them because that's what happened to him." Byulyi reveals the truth behind her past actions. "I decided the best course of action was to give you some attention so you'd be satisfied with my reaction, but not enough that you'd tell more."

"H- How could you two gang up on me like that?! I don't even tell that many dad jokes!"

Byulyi sends him a look of disbelief before stepping out of the open elevator.

"Okay, I don't even tell that many dad jokes _anymore_ ," Seokjin shakes his head as he trails after her like a lost puppy. "I can't believe this. Neither of you two have a sense of humor."

"We do, we just have standards," Byulyi snorts in amusement, ignoring Seokjin's yelps in protest from behind her.

They head back to one of Yoongi's unoccupied safehouses in the city after that to regroup and strategize their next plan of attack for the hitman still on their trail.

"Once news gets out about how we took out his employer, he's going to know to come here to find us," Seokjin brings up in conversation as they sit at the dining table after showering and changing into clean clothes, the pot of warm budae jjigae sitting in front of them as he scoops some more ramen into his bowl. "He might already be in the city if he's predicted what steps we'd take after our first encounter and knew we'd strike here."

"You want to bait him again?" Byulyi hums thoughtfully as she chews on a piece of kimchi. "That should be fine since we're better prepared this time. The question is really how. It'll be difficult if things break out into a gun fight, you know the Seoul police are much faster at responding to 119 calls."

"I'm well aware." Seokjin can't help but cringe at an old memory where he spent nearly half a month trying to shake Seoul authorities off his trail on a past assignment. "Those workaholic motherfuckers nearly cornered me in Incheon last year."

"You're joking!" Byulyi breaks out into a fit of giggles at just the thought. "Looks like you aren't as good as you used to be, huh? Maybe you should consider retirement."

"I really should," Seokjin's tone is completely serious as he leans back in his chair and stretches, looking rather wistful. "I could get myself a cheap plot of land in the middle of nowhere and live out the rest of my peaceful days as a farmer."

"You? Farming?" Byulyi shakes her head incredulously. "I can't see it."

"What are you talking about?! Didn't I tell you about how Taehyung and I grew up on a farm with our grandparents back when I was still in middle school?"

"I thought you were just trying to impress me or something back when you told me that story," Byulyi's eyes widen. "That was true?"

"Why would I lie to you about something like that?!" Seokjin huffs, reaching over to pick a piece of tofu out of the pot and pop it into his mouth. "I was the best farmhand my age in town. And the most handsome one."

"Of course you were," Byulyi rolls her eyes, before her gaze softens as she looks down at the uneaten food in her bowl. "You... You're actually considering retirement already?"

"I'm getting old, Byul-ah," Seokjin sighs. "I got into the business in the first place to put Taehyung through school. He's such a bright kid, he can do so much more in his life than farm work, I know it. This job isn't exactly easy on the body either. I don't know how many more times I can get away with throwing myself off a bridge to avoid getting shot in a car chase before my luck runs out."

"Yah, I'm the same age as you! Are you calling me old?" Byulyi points her chopsticks at him. "We're not even thirty yet. And it wasn't luck that pulled you out of that stupid river, it was _me_."

"My hero!" Seokjin fakes a swoon, holding his hand over his heart overdramatically. "How can I ever repay you? I am but a humble farmhand, all I have to offer to you is my body-"

"I don't want it!" Byulyi's shrill response comes before Seokjin can even finish his sentence and theatrics. "I don't want whatever promiscuous farmhand Seokjin is offering!"

"Rude," Seokjin pouts. "Have you really never thought about retiring before? Never been tired of the underground world and all it's darkness?"

Byulyi pauses. "I- I mean, I guess? I always imagined myself retiring at a much later age though. Given my personality, I don't think I could just sit around all day without any clear purpose or work to do. Ironically enough, I had actually been planning on applying to the police academy before I got pulled into this side of things. I'd have more work benefits by now if I had chosen to go down that career path, that's for sure."

"Considering how much you charge for your hits, you have more than you'd ever make as a police officer with those work benefits," Seokjin snorts in amusement, crossing his arms. "You'd make a terrible police officer."

"I would not!" comes Byulyi's offended retort. "Just because I kill people for a living doesn't mean I don't have a moral code."

"That's not what I meant," Seokjin rolls his eyes. He knows all too well how Byulyi never accepts an assignment unless she truly believes the target deserves it. Her strong personal sense of justice even within a field like contracted killing is one of the things that drew him to her in the first place. "You wouldn't survive in a bureaucratic work environment like that for too long. You believe in doing what you think is right, no matter what the consequences. That type of shit doesn't fly in the National Police Agency and you know it."

"Yeah..." Byulyi mumbles in reluctant agreement, picking up a piece of sausage from her bowl and biting into it.

"Besides, I think there's a far better occupation for you to consider once you decide to retire from all this underground craziness for good," Seokjin smiles, a mischievous glint in his eyes.

Byulyi raises an eyebrow in curiosity. "And what would that be?"

"Becoming Farmer Seokjin's wife," Seokjin proudly declares.

"You-!" Before Byulyi even gets the chance to scold the other for his shameless flirting, the rest of their conversation is cut off by the sudden sound of someone knocking at the door.

The two of them freeze in their seats, blood running cold.

This is Yoongi's backup safehouse. No one else should have this address or know about the two of them staying here, much less know that they're in Seoul to begin with. It can't be Yoongi, since the weapons dealer knew better than to visit them in these volatile circumstances.

So who the hell is at the door?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> please visit https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/ for resources regarding the black lives matter movement! even without money, signing petitions are FREE and there are youtube playlists of videos you can stream whose ad revenue will be donated to the cause!
> 
> it's important to understand that both bts and mamamoo's music discography draws from many music genres that were PIONEERED by african americans (rnb, hip hop, etc.) and without inspirations like beyonce and rihanna, it's unlikely that we would be able to watch ahn hyejin perform on stage today. if you support and love these two amazing groups, you cannot let the mistreatment and injustice of african americans and black people all around the world go unheard. this is my plead and call to action for all of you. #blacklivesmatter
> 
> reminder: educate yourself. be vocal. take actions beyond your words. this isn't an us vs them issue. this is a human rights issue. no one should have to fear for their life due to the color of their skin.


	11. ten;

"You are so fucking lucky I checked the peephole," Seokjin gripes as he glares at the teenager sitting next to him on the couch, Byulyi curled up on a loveseat on the other side of the coffee table in the living room. "I was not going to hesitate shooting at whoever was behind the door before that. Do you even realize how dangerous it is for you to be here with us right now, Taehyung?"

"You shouldn't have put your cell phone on silent!" The boy sulks, clearly upset at being scolded by his older brother after months of not seeing him. "I sent you hundreds of texts and called you like five times to try and tell you I was on the way."

"Yoongi shouldn't have given you this address," Seokjin shakes his head. "I told him to watch out for you while I was away, not put you in more danger by sending you my way when I'm in the middle of something."

"It's not his fault, hyung! I-" Taehyung's bottom lip quivers, making Seokjin internally groan. He never could resist his younger brother's natural aegyo. Neither could Yoongi, it seems. "He accidentally let it slip that you were back for a little bit when I stopped by the shop after school. It's been so long since we last saw each other, and I begged him to let me see you for a little bit. I missed you, hyung."

Seokjin debates between using the tough love approach or giving in to his brother's sad puppy eyes. He finds himself ending up choosing the latter, reaching over to pull the younger into a tight bear hug with a deep sigh in defeat. "Missed you too, bud."

After the two of them left their grandparents' farm and made their way to the city, Seokjin had all but raised Taehyung himself, with the occasional help of Yoongi and what few people he could really trust in his circles, including Byulyi. The two brothers were closer than anything imaginable, despite the occasional bickering and arguments. It had hit Taehyung pretty hard when Seokjin suddenly disappeared despite the nightly calls and check-ins, especially when his brother's actions had inadvertently forced Byulyi out of his life as well. He had come to see Byulyi as the sister and mother figure he never had back when she was dating his older brother.

It had hurt Byulyi just as much, having to step out of Taehyung's life. But it had hurt even more to stay in it at the time, with the fresh pain of Seokjin's departure thrown back into her face every time she'd see the younger Kim. Taehyung looked different now, filling out his gangly teenage features with lean muscle and developing into a very handsome young adult. It seems good looks run in the Kim family gene pool. His overall clingy, yet teasing nature on the other hand, doesn't seem to have changed in the least.

"I also had to come because I heard that Byulyi noona was with you. Cute couple outfit, by the way." Taehyung snickers, glancing back and forth between the matching Gudetama pajamas the other two have been wearing ever since they returned to the safehouse earlier and showered.

Byulyi's face turns a deep shade of red. "We're not back together or anything!"

"Yet," Seokjin murmurs to his brother, who nods in understanding.

"No, not 'yet'!" Byulyi huffs in embarrassment as she chucks a nearby sofa pillow at Seokjin. "I told you to just grab me a cheap t-shirt or something for me to sleep in! Why did you buy us matching pajamas instead?!"

"They were on sale when I ran to the store to grab ingredients for dinner! You didn't seem to have a problem with it until my brother got here!"

"That's because no one-" Byulyi lets out an exasperated sigh and pinches the bridge of her nose. "You know what? Nevermind."

She stands up, making her way towards the kitchen. "I'm going to go wash the dishes and give you all some time to talk."

"Noona!" Taehyung calls, standing up and moving several steps in Byulyi's direction. "I... Thank you for the birthday presents every year."

Byulyi pauses and turns around, but before the words 'you're welcome' even leave her lips, she lets out a soft grunt as she's suddenly tackled in a tight hug. Her fingers tremble slightly as she closes her eyes and returns Taehyung's embrace, patting his head gently. He was always such a kind and sensitive soul, had a big heart full of love for those in his life. She couldn't bear abandoning him, not completely. Despite leaving the city, she never failed to send him anonymous birthday gifts, almost as though to apologize for not being able to be there for him in person. She didn't realize he knew it was her all along.

'I-" She can tell by the sound of his shaking voice that he's holding back tears. "I missed you too, noona. I really missed you a lot."

"Me too, Taehyung-ah. Me too." Byulyi opens her eyes and looks over Taehyung's shoulder, meeting Seokjin's softened gaze. His eyes hold a certain warmth again, an expression that Byulyi used to see years ago, one she has seared deep into her memory. Her heart beats a little bit faster in her chest because she knows what that look means, knows that Seokjin's words back when they were at the motel are true.

Because the look in his eyes tells her that Seokjin is currently staring at the two most important people in this world to him.

* * *

"Thought he'd never leave," Seokjin grumbles, flopping onto the bed with a soft grunt. "He's still needy as ever."

Several meters away in the connected bathroom, Byulyi pauses to spit the toothpaste in her mouth into the sink before sending him a pointed look. "You were on the verge of tears sending him to the door five minutes ago."

"I- I was not!"

Byulyi snorts in amusement. "You were blubbering and everything."

"I don't blubber! Hitman Kim Seokjin doesn't blubber!" comes the childish protest as Seokjin kicks up into the air, flailing around on the bed in an _extremely_ professional manner.

Byulyi doesn't look the least bit convinced. "If I hadn't held you back you would've clung to his legs and prevented him from leaving for another hour. Yoongi had already been waiting in the parking lot for thirty minutes because you insisted on hearing about Taehyung's love life."

"I'm his brother, of course I needed to hear about his girlfriend!" Seokjin sputters in defense. "The only reason it took as long as it did is because you kept teasing him about Wheein! He kept tripping over his words because he was so embarrassed!"

"Reminded me of you back when we first started dating, I couldn't help myself," Byulyi snickers. "Remember when you took me to that fried chicken place down the street from our apartment and-"

"No! We don't speak of that night!" Seokjin buries his face into his hands in sheer horror just at the mention of the memory. "You win, you win!"

Byulyi shakes her head with a quiet giggle, rinsing out her mouth and washing her face before heading back into the bedroom where Seokjin is starfished out across the bed, obnoxiously taking up as much space as possible. She jabs at his side but he doesn't move. She tries shoving harder. Nothing.

"Yah."

Silence.

Byulyi purses her lips and pushes at him once more. "Move your fat ass, I'm trying to sleep now."

"I'm not fat! And neither is my ass!" Seokjin hmphs, rolling over to his side of the bed. Byulyi takes the opportunity to smack said ass while he's turned over. "Pervert! If you wanted to spank me, you should've just asked! I'm calling 119!"

"Oh yeah, I'm sure they'd be ecstatic if you did them all a favor and turned yourself in to them after all these years." Byulyi laughs as she crawls under the covers. "Go to bed, you goon. We need to sleep now so we have enough energy for tomorrow."

Seokjin raises an eyebrow. "You're not going to build the Great Wall of pillows between us again?"

Byulyi's face colors at the mention of her petty actions from the night before. "Th- That was just a precautionary measure last night! As long as you can behave yourself, we'll be fine."

"No promises," Seokjin mutters to himself under his breath.

"What was that?"

"I said I promise!" Seokjin blinks innocently at the other, scrambling under the blankets himself, pretending to scroll through something on his phone.

The corners of Byulyi's lips quirk upward as she burrows herself deeper under the comforter, before murmuring a soft "goodnight Jinnie" and closing her eyes.

Seokjin turns off the lamp on the table next to him and waits until her breathing evens out, heart thumping in anticipation. Several minutes later, he hears it.

A whimper.

With lightning speed, he's reaching across the bed to pull her back into his arms like the night before, humming one of her old favorite songs to her softly as he gently strokes her hair. This time however, the whimpering stops almost as soon as she's in his hold and the previously forlorn expression on Byulyi's sleeping face slowly fades into one of peace. Seokjin smiles happily and leans down to press a chaste kiss to her forehead.

_"Sweet dreams, little star."_


	12. eleven;

Seokjin is in the kitchen making the two of them lunch the next day when he hears a knock at the door.

"What the hell?" He mutters under his breath, reaching into his pocket to pull out his phone to check his notifications. No missed calls or texts. That means it isn't Yoongi or anyone else that knows he's in town. "How is this a fucking safehouse if we somehow manage to get visitors everyday?!"

"That's for me!" Byulyi calls as she scurries out of the bedroom, still dressed in her Gudetama pajamas just like Seokjin with her hair tied haphazardly behind her head in a low ponytail to keep it out of her face.

"What'd you do, order a pizza while we were trying to lay low?" Seokjin peeks his head out of the kitchen to watch as Byulyi makes her way to the front door. "I was going to have lunch ready soon."

"I didn't order a pizza," Byulyi snorts, making sure to confirm the identity of their visitor through the peephole before reaching for the doorknob. "I felt bad since we kept getting assistance from all your friends to deal with this guy, so I thought it was only fair to call in some help of my own."

Seokjin can all but feel the blood drain from his face as he's suddenly hit with a strong sense of foreboding. "Wait, you don't mean..."

Byulyi pulls open the door.

"Yongsun unnie!"

* * *

"What's with that look on your face?" Byulyi asks as she takes a bite of kimchi fried rice, glancing at the tense yet resigned expression Seokjin is wearing as the three of them sit around the dining table.

"When I said that we needed backup yesterday, I was talking about someone like a sniper," Seokjin lets out a deep sigh. "Not an underground doctor."

"Well, it wouldn't hurt to have unnie as backup in case someone gets injured." Byulyi points out.

"Are you kidding me? She hates me!" Seokjin exclaims, pointing at the woman across the table casually eating his kimchi fried rice as though she lived here. "If I was bleeding out in front of her, she'd probably add salt to my wound! Literally!"

"I'm Byul's best friend, it's my job to hate you," Yongsun fires back.

"You tried to gut me two weeks ago!"

"And you broke her heart all those years ago!"

"Okay, we really didn't need to bring that one back up," Byulyi mumbles in a disgruntled manner.

"Also, why the hell are you two wearing matching pajamas?!" Yongsun fixates her piercing and accusing glare on her friend.

Byulyi almost chokes on her water. "Th- They were on sale! It wasn't on purpose!"

"It's none of your business, noona," Seokjin sniffs haughtily. "We were doing just fine before you showed up."

"You better be careful with what you say to me, Kim Seokjin," Yongsun hisses, pointing the chopsticks in her hand at the other threateningly. "Next time I catch you so much as breathing the wrong way in front of Byulyi, not only am I going to show you a world of pain, but I'll patch you back up just so I can do it a second time!"

"Unnie!" Byulyi is clearly aghast at her friend's behavior, despite the fact that she knows all too well that Yongsun is all talk. Well, mostly...

Seokjin can't help the cold shiver of fear that runs down his spine the elder's words. He gulps nervously before steeling himself and staring Yongsun back in the eye with conviction. "I'm not leaving her again. Not now, not ever."

Byulyi can feel her face heat up at his words in embarrassment. It's one thing when he's purposely acting cheesy and flirting greasily, but it's totally different when he says something like _that_. She stands up out of her chair all of a sudden, stammering. "I- I'm going to go use the restroom. No more fighting while I'm gone, okay?"

She doesn't even wait to hear their reply before she's rushing off into the bedroom where the bathroom is. Seokjin doesn't even get the chance to finish watching her silhouette turn around the corner before Yongsun slams her silverware down against the table, startling him and forcing his attention back onto her.

"Alright dipshit," Yongsun glares at him. "What are you really doing here?"

Seokjin blinks in confusion at the sudden switch in conversation. "I- what?"

"Don't play dumb," Yongsun crosses her arms and scowls. "You're lying to Byul. You've _been_ lying to her this whole time. And I don't exactly take it too kindly when my best friend is being messed with. So either you tell me what the fuck you're doing back in Byulyi's life after all this time or I'll kick your ass and ask again once Byulyi's back in the room. That would definitely ruin whatever plan it is you have, wouldn't it?"

"You-" Seokjin pinches the bridge of his nose in frustration. There's no point in lying to Yongsun, the woman's practically a walking lie detector considering her doctorate in psychology in addition to all her medical expertise. "What has she told you?"

"Says you hired her as a bodyguard because someone took a hit out on you." Yongsun's gaze is sharp as she observes Seokjin's reaction to her words. She's trying to read his body language. "You shouldn't have lied to her to begin with, especially when you already lost her trust back when you left."

"I didn't have a choice!" Seokjin's tone is low but urgent as he casts a glance towards the bedroom to make sure Byulyi isn't coming out anytime soon. "You think I wanted to lie to her face after finally being able to see her again? I came here to redeem myself-"

"Fine fucking job you're doing," Yongsun snorts patronizingly. "I'm sure she's going to love finding out that this entire thing was just set up by you to manipulate her feelings and win her back!"

"That's not true." Seokjin's hands tighten in fists as he frowns harshly. "Even if I want to be a part of her life again, I would never do that."

"Oh really? Then why the hell are you leading her around on some wild goose chase when we both know there's no hit on you?" Yongsun's face is stoic, but her voice is laced with underlying suspicion. "I reached out to my cousin for information on you, he said you bought something about Byulyi from him."

"You're- RM is your cousin?" Seokjin sputters in disbelief. "Did he sell it to you or give it to you for free?"

"Family discount. And he didn't say what the information was, said you paid extra to make sure no one else ever got the information again," Yongsun huffs. "You're not the only one that doesn't want anything to do with their criminal family business."

Seokjin stiffens at her words. "If you think blackmailing me about my estranged extended family is going to scare me into leaving Byulyi's side, you're wrong. I told her my only family is Taehyung and our deceased grandparents and I meant it. That group of people lost the right to be my family the second they murdered my parents for trying to live a normal life outside of crime."

"I didn't come here to blackmail you, you dolt." Yongsun rolls her eyes. "We're in the same boat when it comes to that subject. My loyalty is to Byulyi, which is why if I find out you have any sort of ill intentions towards her, I swear to god I'll make sure you never see her again."

"It's on her!" Seokjin finally breaks. There's not much time left before Byulyi returns and considering Yongsun's current level of distrust for him, there's no telling what she might say once Byulyi is back. "The hit. It was taken out on Byulyi."

"Wait-" Yongsun's eyes grow to the size of dinner plates. "You're shitting me."

"I wish I wasn't." Seokjin can feel his hands tremble. It's the first time he's disclosed the truth to someone else, aside from that bastard Byungho but he's dead, and saying it out loud like that suddenly makes it feel way too real. Someone is trying to _kill_ the woman he loves. "You know she wouldn't have let me stay by her side if I had told her that when I showed up at her flat, there's no way in hell. You can threaten me all you want, noona, but nothing you say is going to scare me from Byulyi's side. I... I've made a lot of mistakes in my life. Things I'm not proud of, things I regret, but Byulyi... Byulyi was the only thing I got right. I'm not about to give that up this time."

Yongsun bits her lower lip as she processes his words, but before she gets a chance to ask any more questions, they hear the sound of Byulyi's soft footsteps as she pads back into the dining area. Byulyi exits the bedroom to see the other two quietly eating their lunch, a jarring contrast to their earlier chaotic squabbling. She shrugs internally and rejoins them at the table, asking Yongsun how she's been the past few weeks and making small talk. There's no point in worrying about trivial things like the odd glances the other two share every now and then as they clean up the table and head over to the living room to draft out their final strategy.

Because tonight, they have more important things to attend to. It's about time they show the silly little hitman after them what it's like to really be hunted down.


	13. twelve;

"So exactly how is this hitman guy even going to know how or where to find you two in the middle of Korea's largest city?" Yongsun asks, her brow furrowed in confusion as she watches Byulyi suit up in the bedroom. Seokjin is on a phone call with Yoongi somewhere else in the safehouse. "You're not going to wear all black or anything like that?"

"What?" Byulyi turns to peer at the older in her own confusion, the shirt she was planning on putting on still hanging loosely around her arms.

"You know..." Yongsun waves her hand around in an abstract manner. "You're a hitwoman and everything. Don't you need to put on some all black badass assassin outfit like they do in the movies?"

"... Exactly how long have you been an underground doctor again?"

"I'm serious!" Yongsun whines as Byulyi laughs at her. "I'm never out on the field, I just patch people back up during the aftermath."

"And do any of the people you patch back up wear all black when you see them?" Byulyi asks teasingly as she runs a hand through her long tousled hair to pull the couple of strands still tucked under her shirt.

Yongsun pauses. "N- No... But they're probably not even hitmen! I'm pretty sure most of my clients are from some mafia group or some street gang. And it's not like I can ask them. The only reason why they even trust me is because I don't ask questions. You can't rat anyone out if you don't know anything. Do you guys really not wear all black on your hits?"

"Unnie, you've been watching too many movies," Byulyi snorts in amusement. "Just because we're supposed to stay in the shadows doesn't mean we wear all black. The only reason the people in the movies do that is because it's always dark out in whatever scene they film, and black is what blends in at nighttime. Being a hitwoman isn't just about finding someone and taking their life. It's about surveillance, tailing your target to get a sense of their routine, when they're most vulnerable for the hit."

"So what you're saying is that you could become a private investigator with gifted stalking skills as a side hustle if you wanted to?" Yongsun crosses her arms and shakes her head. "Damn. The best I'd be able to manage after retiring is a grocer or something lowkey."

"You have two doctorates and your retirement plan is to become a grocer?" Byul raises an eyebrow.

"Nevermind that, the plan is still in the works and subject to change anyways, knowing my personality. What were you saying about all your surveillance shit and everything?"

"Well, in order to do all that, you can't get caught." Byulyi says matter-of-factly. "That's why what I need to wear isn't some all black outfit that will be memorable to people the police question after the hit's done, it's something that'll blend in."

"You want to be as forgettable and unassuming as possible," Yongsun nods in understanding. "As though you were never there."

"Exactly. Which is why whoever it is that's after Seokjin is a terrible hitman."

Yongsun frowns. "Okay, you've lost me again."

"The worst mistake a hitman can make is to let their target become aware of them and their intentions." Byulyi explains. "You lose the element of surprise and it becomes a hell of a lot harder to get the target back into that unguarded state once they know someone's after their life. Not impossible though, of course. If that guy wanted to take Seokjin out then he should've done it when we were at the Hwa:telier, that was his best chance. Now that we know he's monitoring us and desperate enough to open fire in public to complete his assignment, we can take that carelessness and use it to our own advantage."

"Oh my god, you're going to bait him," Yongsun purses her lips and exhales sharply. "You guys are scary as hell, you know that?"

"I'm quite positive Seokjin's a lot more scared of you than you are of him," Byulyi chuckles. "You still think he's lying to me?"

"I _know_ he is," Yongsun huffs, her gaze softening as she stares at her friend. "But... he's a good guy, I won't deny that."

Something about the way Yongsun looks at her tells Byulyi that there's something more to her words, but before she gets the chance to ask, there's a knock at the door.

"You ladies ready?"

"I'm still changing!" Byulyi calls, despite the fact that she's already dressed. She wants to ask Yongsun more about what she said about Seokjin.

Her ex turns the doorknob and opens the door anyway, only to get a pillow to the face. "Pft! What the-"

"You perv! You just wanted to sneak a peek at Byulyi while she was naked and changing clothes, didn't you?!" Yongsun beats him again with the pillow she grabbed from the bed. "You lecher! Sleazy casanova!"

"What, no! I- I just need to grab my brush from the bathroom!" Seokjin raises his arms in an attempt to defend himself from Yongsun's vicious attack. "Besides, it's not like I haven't seen her naked befo- OW! Did you put a brick in that pillow or something?!"

Byulyi can't help but laugh. "Unnie, it's fine. I wasn't actually still changing, I'm already done."

"I- stop hitting me! Then why did you..."

Byulyi shrugs, wracking her brain to think up a little white lie. "I was just curious to see what you'd do."

"It's a good thing you did," Yongsun squints at Seokjin, pointing her index and middle fingers back and forth between the two of them in an 'I'm watching you' gesture. "You're on thin ice, buddy."

"I came to grab my brush, I swear!"

It isn't until Seokjin finally bats away the pillow in Yongsun's hands that Byulyi catches a glimpse of what he's wearing. And... wow.

His hair is still damp from his earlier shower, giving him a rugged yet boyish look as he huffs and protests against Yongsun's wild and random accusations. Her mind unhelpfully supplies her with the memory of how he looked as he came out of the shower the other day, shirtless with nothing but a towel wrapped around his waist and water dripping down his broad back. He's dressed in just a normal set of civilian clothing, a pair of blue jeans and a white cotton t-shirt tucked in the front, yet somehow the way he fills out the clothes somehow makes him look more like a model on a runway. How the hell has this man managed to blend into the crowd after a hit when he looks like _that_ everytime?!

"Like what you see?"

"Huh?" Byulyi blinks, only to find herself staring at Seokjin's smirking face. Her cheeks burn a bright pink as she realizes she was caught openly gaping at him. "I- as if!"

"Well, it looks like our friend here also has quite the dirty mind, noona. I'd say we were a match made in heaven," Seokjin teases lightly, as he steps past a blushing Byulyi and into the bathroom to go and grab his brush just like he said he would.

Yongsun rolls her eyes. "Gross. I can't work my case against him if all you do is drool over his looks all day, Byul."

"I- I wasn't drooling!" Byulyi protests.

Yongsun shakes her head. "You were most definitely staring at the very least. In fact, I bet you haven't even noticed it yet."

Byulyi cocks her head to the side in confusion. "Noticed what?"

Yongsun snorts. "Take a look at what you're wearing."

Byulyi looks down. Blue jeans and a white t-shirt. Wait a second....

"Yah, Kim Seokjin! You got us matching outfits again?!"

* * *

"God, I can't believe Yoongi didn't bother to tell us that this abandoned parking garage didn't come with a working elevator." Seokjin pants as the two of them rush up multiple flights of stairs.

"I can't believe you got us matching outfits," Byulyi grumbles spitefully, her legs beginning to burn from all the stair climbing. "We were supposed to blend in!"

"And we did! All the couples I see walking around nowadays are always wearing couple outfits! We even had matching baseball caps so no one could get a good look at our face. You think the first people they're going to suspect when a man turns up dead is the couple going out on a date in the area?" Seokjin groans as he looks up to find another flight of stairs left. "Fuck, I need to workout more."

"Don't be a baby, it's just one more flight." Byulyi can feel the adrenaline rush through her veins at the faint sound of echoing footsteps several levels below them. The hitman's catching up. "Hurry, he's coming."

The plan has worked out well so far. With a couple of phone calls earlier that evening to JK and Yoongi, Seokjin was able to get a couple of rumors floating around the underground community that he and Byulyi were back in town and would be headed to a bar near the outskirts of Seoul, one that is often frequented by hitmen, mobsters, and criminals of all kind- Dionysus. Just as they predicted, the hitman made his move before they got the chance to enter Dionysus. Despite its infamous lineup of customers, the bar has a no weapons, no fighting policy, one that everyone involved in the criminal underworld knows better than to go against. There'd be no chance for him to make his move if Byulyi and Seokjin were able to get in there.

The hitman started shooting at them when they were a block away from Dionysus and just as planned, the two of them took off, forcing the impatient hitman to go after them in a foot chase. Seokjin had had Yoongi help find him an abandoned and unused parking garage for them to run to on their call earlier that evening. No witnesses, no 119 calls. And here they were, climbing multiple flights of stairs to the top level to lull the hitman into a false sense of security thinking he had them cornered.

The cool night breeze blows lightly at Byulyi's face as they reach the top and step out of the stairwell, the crescent moon and the nearby office buildings casting a faint glow of light on their surroundings as they duck behind a thick slab of concrete by the industrial air vents, keeping their vantage point of the stairwell and releasing the safety on their handguns just in case. The hitman steps into view a few minutes later, the loose blacktop crunching under his boots as he rests his rifle over his shoulder cockily in a display of victory.

"Come on out, you two, there's nowhere to run!" The man calls out lazily. "Whether or not you kill my client, a contract's a contract. No one else will do business with me if I don't honor that agreement so just surrender nicely now and I won't let you all suffer in the process, alright?"

"You do realize who you're dealing with, don't you?" Byulyi calls out in irritation, still hidden from his sight.

A shot rings out, a bullet whizzing past them nearby. He's trying to lure them out with the sound of their voices.

"You exposed our location!" Seokjin hisses under his breath.

"We were going to trade fire eventually," Byulyi protests. "There's no point in stalling."

Another bullet fires above their heads, but this time the shot is much closer to them.

"Fuck," Seokjin grumbles under his breath. "Okay, on three, I'm going to return fire to cover you. Split off and head over behind that column over there. Ready?"

Byulyi nods.

"One, two, three!"

Seokjin grits his teeth and pops his head over the concrete shield, shooting back at the other hitman. Byulyi takes that as her cue and breaks out into a sprint, diving behind a nearby concrete column several meters away. The hitman has also taken cover behind a column of his own, shooting back in Seokjin's direction. She needs to get rid of that rifle in his hands if they want the upper hand.

While the other two are distracted, she pulls out her own handgun, taking careful aim by where the other hitman is currently hiding behind. Her shot needs to be precise. She takes in a deep breath. She can do this, _has_ done this countless times. Just as Seokjin stops shooting to reload, she gets her chance. The hitman peers out around the column to fire back and Byuli aims for the rifle's barrel. One shot.

_Bang!_

The velocity of her shot and the unexpected attack force the rifle out of the hitman's hands as he stumbles back and falls with a yelp. The corners of Byulyi's lips curl up happily. Bullseye. There's no way that rifle is usable after that.

"Move in!" she barks to Seokjin, who nods as they both approach the hitman from different angles, pistols aimed cautiously at the man that's been chasing after them the past week or so.

"Now, why don't you just surrender nicely and I won't let you suffer in the process, hmm?" Byulyi parrots the man's earlier words mockingly back to him, sneering down at the man on the ground. He's hunched over, groaning in pain. Her shot must have caused the bullet in the rifle's barrel to set off the blowback and somehow injure him in the process. "You were a fool to think you could come after a hitman like Seokjin and get away with it."

"Seokjin?" The man coughs. "What the hell are you talking about? I was never after your little boytoy over here."

"What?" Byulyi's brow furrows in confusion as she looks over to Seokjin, who suddenly can't seem to look Byulyi in the eye. "What is he talking about?"

"Nothing important, Byul, let me take him out." Seokjin murmurs, biting the inside of his right cheek.

"He didn't tell you?" The hitman on the ground cackles. "Oh that's rich. I've been chasing after a target who had no idea she was the one being chased."

"She? Wait-" Byulyi's eyes widen in shock and she stares at Seokjin. "Is he telling the truth?"

"Byulyi, please, I will explain everything once this is over-"

"You lied to me?" Byulyi can feel her heart drop. "You've been lying to me this whole time?"

"This is not the time and you know it!"

"Was any of this real?" Byulyi can feel her hand tremble, can see it in how the gun in her hand shakes. She knows it's unprofessional to let her emotions get the better of her at the time like this, but she... she had finally begun to trust him again, had told herself that maybe this time it would be different between them. Yet he had lied to her from the very start. "Were you just going to pull this fucking stunt and disappear right out of my life afterwards?"

"That's not what I- _Byulyi_!"

It's as though she's watching a movie in slow motion, too stunned by everything to react in time. While she and Seokjin were talking, the hitman had pulled out a revolver from the inside of his jacket, a backup. He hadn't been injured, he had been biding his time, waiting for them to lose focus. He whips it out and points it at her, releasing the safety and taking aim with a sneer on his lips.

The shot goes off.

But the only pain Byulyi can feel is from being tackled to the ground, a heavier body shielding hers. The impact against the hard floor of the parking garage finally shakes herself out of her stupor and she acts, adrenaline and survival instincts kicking in as she stretches her arm out from under the person on top of her and pulls the trigger. A single headshot is all it takes for the hitman to go down, unable to reload his revolver fast enough to get Byulyi the second time around.

There's a groan of pain from above her and the situation comes crashing down on her.

"Oh my god," she mutters, wiggling out from underneath the weight of the body on top of hers and rolling the other over to lie on his back. "Oh my fucking god."

"Just calling me Seokjin is fine," The man chuckles at his own lame joke, his face grimacing in pain from the action.

"This is not the time for your fucking dad jokes!" Byulyi seethes, panic flooding her veins as she reaches into her pocket to dial Yongsun on speaker. "You fucking idiot, why did you-"

"I'm- I'm sorry for lying." Seokjin blinks, reaching over to hold Byulyi's free hand. His grip is weak. He's losing too much blood, he can barely keep his eyes open.

"Keep your mouth shut and focus on- on not dying!" Byulyi snaps.

The call goes through. "Hello?"

"Unnie!" Byulyi's tone is desperate, as she places her phone down and reaches over to rips at the bloodsoaked area of Seokjin's jeans. "You need to come quick. Call- Call Yoongi too."

"Are you alright? What happened to the hitman?"

"He's dead, but he- Seokjin's hurt. There's so much blood." Byulyi can feel her voice trembling.

"Byulyi, you need to focus and listen to me." Yongsun's voice is sharp upon hearing about Seokjin's condition. "Use your shirt or rip off part of your jeans. You need to stop the bleeding and put pressure on the wound. Where was he hit?"

"His thigh, he-" Byulyi takes in a shaky breath as she follows the older's instructions. "He jumped and got hurt trying to save me."

"The thigh? That fucking idiot-" Yongsun mutters a number of unintelligible curse words over the phone. "The bullet might have nicked the femoral artery. Put as much pressure on his wound as you can _now_ or he'll bleed out in minutes. I sent Yoongi a text and I'm on the way, okay? The best you can do right now is try and stop the bleeding, alright?"

"Okay, unnie. Please hurry, I don't-" Byulyi looks over. Seokjin's eyes are closed, his breathing haggard. Fear grips her heart, clawing at her chest. "I can't lose him."

Tears blur her vision and she bites back a choked sob as the truth of her words resonates achingly inside her.

 _"I can't lose him, not again_. _"_


	14. thirteen;

"You need to get some rest."

Byulyi blinks drearily, forcing herself to pull her gaze away from Seokjin's motionless body on the bed to look over to the doorway where Yongsun is staring at her, worry written across the older's face. "I'm fine, unnie, I can watch him for a couple more hours."

"I wasn't asking you, I was telling you." Yongsun scowls. "You haven't slept in over forty hours. You can either play nice and go get some sleep in Yoongi's guestroom across the hall or I can knock you out with some general anesthesia and drag your flat ass over there myself."

"Unnie, please," Byulyi whines, something she rarely does considering their friendship dynamic. "I just- I need to be here in case he wakes up."

"The last thing that man wants to see when he wakes back up are your sleep deprived dark eye circles," Yongsun rolls her eyes, but sighs in defeat. "I'll tell Yoongi to bring you a blanket."

"Thank you," Byulyi's words are as soft as a whisper, but Yongsun hears her anyway, shaking her head almost as though to say 'what are friends for?' before heading back out of the room and leaving Byulyi alone once again.

Byulyi looks back over to where Seokjin is lying, his chest rising and falling slowly under the covers. He was going to be okay, Yongsun had told her several hours after they loaded him into Yoongi's SUV at the abandoned parking garage and back to the weapon dealer's home. The hitman's dead body was taken care of by some of Yoongi and Seokjin's other friends, though Byulyi couldn't really care less in these circumstances. Yoongi had forced her to drink some water and get something in her stomach while Yongsun had worked her medical magic on Seokjin when they had first returned to the house, kept her company and updated her on his life and everything that had happened in the Seoul underground community after she left to try and keep her mind off of Seokjin's condition.

 _It hasn't been the same without you here bothering me_ , Yoongi had grumbled begrudgingly, though his eyes still flickered with a trace of fondness at his words. _No one to drag me off and cause trouble around the city._

He had been one of their closest friends back when Seokjin left, had been the only one to have the balls to tell Byulyi something no one else would dare say when she had packed her bags and was ready to leave Seoul as well.

 _If you love him,_ Yoongi had said all those years ago, _then wait for him. He's yours, noona. Always has been and always will be. Once hyung realizes what a freaking idiot he's being, he's going to come home to you. I promise._

A small part of Byulyi had always scolded herself for actually listening to the younger's advice, for desperately clinging to Yoongi's words for hope that maybe one day, his words would come true. It had taken years, but he was right. Seokjin had come back for her.

And with a single gunshot, he had almost left her again just as fast.

"Bet you're glad I called Yongsun unnie here for backup now, don't you, you fucking twat," Byulyi finds herself sniffling, trying her best to hold back the angry tears stinging at the back of her eyes. "If she hadn't been here, you- you'd... you fucking suck! I hate you so much, for- for leaving back then, and for making me leave Taehyung and Yoongi and- and everything I knew in Seoul because I couldn't live anywhere near this goddamn city without crying myself to sleep every night because it just reminded me of you!"

Byulyi takes a deep and shaky breath, her emotions running high and all over the place now that the danger is over. "Back then... at the motel. You were right. I was running. Running away from the possibility of us again. Because as much as I hated to admit it, I was still so fucking in love with you that it hurt. And that scared the hell out of me, knowing that even after everything that happened, my dumb brain or heart or whatever the hell is in charge of my ridiculous set of emotions was desperate enough to actually listen to Yoongi's words and wait for you after all this time. I'm probably the biggest idiot out of all of us!"

Byulyi huffs, rather frustrated that yelling at Seokjin's unresponsive form was less therapeutic than she had expected. She stands up to turn and go over to the dresser to grab the glass of water Yoongi had brought in for her earlier, thinking of other things to say to possibly relieve her anger. "Also, I've- I've never seen a face as ugly as yours in my life!"

"Well now you're just trying to hurt my feelings."

Byulyi freezes in shock, her form going completely rigid as she grasps at the cup of water in her hand so tight that she's surprised the glass doesn't shatter. She spins around, eyes wide as they meet the limpid and warm gaze of Kim Seokjin.

"You-!" Byulyi squawks unintelligibly, floundering momentarily as she stares at the other in disbelief. "How long have you been awake?!"

"Long enough," Seokjin answers vaguely with a hoarse voice, his expression not giving away any further information and making Byulyi panic internally. Just how much of her unfiltered ramblings did he hear?! "Could I have some of your water?"

"No!" Byulyi finds her mouth replying automatically without properly consulting her brain and all possible logic beforehand. "I mean... Go get your own."

Shit, that isn't what she meant to say either.

"I was shot in the leg, you'd think I'd at least get some sort of pity around here," Seokjin sighs overdramatically before reaching to tug the comforter off of him.

"What are you doing?!" Byulyi hurries over, setting her glass of water on the nearby nightstand as she tries to prevent him from leaving the bed, forcing him back down onto the mattress and aggressively tucking him back under the blankets. The last thing she needs is to be scolded by Yongsun for abusing the patient and setting back his recovery. "Yong unnie said not to let you leave the bed!"

"You told me to get my own water!" Seokjin protests.

"It was a joke!" Byulyi snaps, before taking a deep breath. "Listen, just- you can have some of mine, it's fine."

"Will you hold the cup for me?" Seokjin bats his eyelashes up at her coyly, not looking at all like someone that was on the cusps of death one day ago.

"Your leg was shot, not your arm," Byulyi scowls, but complies with his request anyways, holding the glass to his lips and tipping it so Seokjin can drink the rest of the water.

He wipes at his wet chin, chuckling. "I think more of that water ended up going down my shirt than in my mouth with how fast you were pouring."

"You should've told me to stop!" Byulyi is quick to push the blame back onto him. "It's not like you weren't capable of holding the stupid glass yourself to begin with."

"That's true, I just like seeing you care for me," Seokjin admits shamelessly, grinning at the way Byulyi's cheeks heat up in her flustered state. "So how long have I been out?"

"Almost the entire day," Byulyi grumbles, sitting along the edge of the bed and fiddling with her fingers. "Yongsun unnie said she wasn't sure if you'd even wake up until tomorrow considering how much blood you had loss."

"Nah, it's just because I'm getting old," Seokjin shakes his head in amusement. "If I were just a couple years younger, I would've been up and back at it in just half a day's time-"

"Seokjin, you almost _died_!" Byulyi's hand is curled up in a fist as she slams it down on an unused pillow, turning to stare at him with a long, hard look. "Do you even actually love me?!"

"What-" Seokjin's mouth gapes like a fish. "I literally just took a bullet for you, in case you forgot!"

"If that bullet had gone any closer to your artery, you would've bled out in my arms in seconds!" Byulyi's voice cracks and it isn't until Seokjin looks closer that he realizes her eyes are wet, brimming with unshed tears. "You- You're an imbecile! A dickwad! You're the worst!"

"Ah, fuck," Realization dawns on Seokjin as he reaches out to grab hold of her closest arm, tugging at her until she finally lets him pull her shaking frame into his embrace, curling up against his chest and crying into his shoulder quietly. "Don't cry, Byulyi, please don't cry. Damnit, it seems like these days, all I'm good for is making you cry."

"I hate you," Byulyi all but sobs, limply punching at his chest, no actual bite to her words or strength to her actions.

"No, you don't," Seokjin reaches over to the nightstand to grab several tissues and dab gently at the tears running down Byulyi's face, his gaze softening as he takes in her haggard features. Knowing her, she probably hasn't gotten a wink of sleep since he took that bullet for her. "Stop saying stupid shit like that when we both know that's not true, Byul. C'mon, level with me. Why are you always hiding how you really feel?"

"Because the last time I opened myself up to someone, you broke my fucking heart!"

Seokjin grimaces at the reminder of what is definitely the biggest mistake of his life, but doesn't let that discourage him. "Okay, yes. That was ten thousand percent my fault. I'm... god, I'm so sorry, Byulyi. You don't even know how many times I've beaten myself up at night these past years because of what I did. I was a coward and a loser and I admit it. And I told you, I don't expect you to ever forgive me for that, but that doesn't mean I won't spend the rest of my life trying to make amends. Last night... my body moved on its own, but I'm so fucking glad it did. I don't care how mad you are at me for doing it. You- In that moment, I thought I was going to lose you..."

"Then you should know how I've felt for the past day or so," Byulyi grumbles, still sniffling every now and then, fingers clinging to the edge of Seokjin's shirt as though he might disappear any minute. It breaks his heart to think of the torment she must have gone through after he passed out.

"I... I do," Seokjin sighs. "Listen, Byul, I meant it when I said I want to make amends. If I want us to have a chance again, I need to start by being honest with you. That hitman was right. The hit was taken out on you. I... I had been too scared to show back up in your life out of nowhere, but I also checked in on you every now and them. Not in a creepy stalkerish way, I swear! I would just... I asked around sometimes. Once I caught wind that you were being targeted for accidentally witnessing something dumb about Walsong's underground business during one of your past assignments, I couldn't just stand around anymore. I... I lied to you because we both know that if I showed up that night and offered my help instead of saying what I did, you would've slammed that door right back in my face."

"I probably would've kicked you in the nuts too for good measure," Byulyi mumbles.

Seokin smiles softly, brushing the stray strand of hair away from her face so he can stare down at her with an intensity that makes her feel all warm inside. "I know you would've. It- It was wrong of me to lie, I know, but it was the only way I could find my way back into your life again."

"... Why didn't you come back sooner?" Byulyi asks quietly.

"I think... part of me thought that I didn't deserve you anymore," Seokjin exhales through his nose. "I didn't know if you had maybe moved on, had found someone that was better than the past me. Someone that would treat you right."

Byulyi is silent for a moment. "Then what changed your mind? The hit?"

"No," Seokjin breathes, chuckling lightly at what he's about to say, "It was when I came back to Seoul for Taehyung's graduation. I ended up going through some of our old stuff, old memories. Tae and Yoongi never threw them out, even piled it all on my bed so I'd have to go through everything before I could even sleep on the mattress. I found an old letter I wrote."

Byulyi's brow furrows in confusion. "You've never written me any letters."

"I wrote them all the time," Seokjin confesses in mild embarrassment. "Just as a hobby of sorts. A place for me to sort out my thoughts. I did that even after I left. Wrote letters to you. To Tae. To myself."

"So? What'd the letter say?"

"Some cheesy stuff," Seokjin hums. "But I realized that the overall emotions were still the same even in my most recent letters to you at the time, regardless of what I said or how I said it."

"What does that mean?"

"It means," Seokjin swallows nervously. He's never been too good at talking about his feelings, about all his insecurities and vulnerabilities. After all, that's why he put everything down in letters that were never meant to be read. "That I never stopped loving you. That no one, _no one_ in this world will ever love you as much as I did, as much as I still do."

"Oh."

"The moment it hit me," Seokjin grins ruefully. "I knew just how badly I had fucked up. And how hard I was going to have to work to win you back. And- And I know it's going to take you time. To trust me again, to see that I'm not all talk this time. And I'm willing to prove that no matter how long it takes. I'm not making that mistake again, I'm not leaving your side no matter what."

Byulyi reaches down to play with his fingers, tracing random patterns into his palm. "So what happens now? To us?"

"Whatever you want," Seokjin replies earnestly. "If you don't want this- us- anymore, I'll give you space for as long as it takes. If... If you aren't ready, I'll wait for you. The ball's in your court."

"I've had some time to think about things," Byulyi starts out tentatively. "It's... It's a lot to take in."

"You can reject me, god knows I deserve it," Seokjin tries to come off as casual, though the uneasiness in his nervous expression is obvious. "It's okay, I'm a big boy. I can handle it."

"After some thought, I realized that-" Byulyi takes a deep breath. "That if I don't listen to what my heart wants, what I'll regret in the end isn't waiting for you like a fool all these years, it's going to be not taking that step back into your arms."

"You mean-" Seokjin's eyes widen with hope as he gazes down at her.

"But you're right when you said I'm going to need some time," Byulyi speaks up once again. "To figure things out. Decide what I really want out of my own life."

"For you, I have all the time in the world," Seokjin breathes happily, unable to control the grin that spreads wide across his face. "You just need time, right? Not space?"

Byulyi rolls her eyes, but the small smile playing at her lips tells him she's not actually annoyed. "Not space. As long as you promise to keep cooking for me."

"Of- Of course!" Seokjin exclaims, so giddy he can feel his hands tremble from sheer excitement. "And- And we're okay?"

Byulyi looks down to where she had previously been playing around with his hands, reaching back down to interlace their fingers together with a shy but happy smile on her face.

"We're going to be okay."

_It might take a year, it might take a day, but what's meant to be will always find its way._


	15. outro.

"Shit," Police officer Park Jimin curses under his breath as he feels his car stalling on the beaten dirt path, slowing to an inevitable stop. He glances at the car's fuel indicator. Empty.

Of course.

Jimin runs a hand through his hair, exhaling sharply in frustration. Shortcut, his ass. He should've known better than to get directions from that bored looking teenager manning the pawn shop he had stopped at for assistance earlier. Now with his phone out of charge, his police radio out of range, and no gas in his vehicle, he was stranded in the middle of nowhere.

He was on the way back to Seoul after driving out to deliver the bad news to an elderly couple about their son, the latest murder victim in his assigned case, and ask them a couple of questions about their son's life. If he had known that he would be travelling on over tens of miles of backroads without a single gas station in sight, he would've filled his gas tank up before he set out or at the very least brought another officer along for company.

Jimin lets out a soft huff in exasperation at his current situation and cracks open the car door, stepping out and squinting his eyes due to the sudden glare of the midday sun as he looks around at his surroundings. Acres and acres of nothing but nature. Fantastic.

He spends another half hour (but what honestly feels like another five hours) walking around to see if there are any signs of civilization in the distance (surprise, surprise, there aren't), always staying close enough to keep his car in view. The last thing he needs is to be stranded in the middle of rural country Korea and lost without his vehicle. He eventually settles back into his car in the driver's seat, leaning his seat back so he can close his eyes and take a nap. He'll figure something out when he wakes back up.

His intended nap lasts for a solid ten seconds before Jimin suddenly hears a quiet rumbling in the distance, shooting up in his seat and frantically looking around. "Oh thank god."

Far off into the distance, he spots a silver sedan car driving his way through the rear view window. He scrambles out of his seat and back out of his vehicle, waving his arms with as much gusto as humanly possible to try and gain the driver's attention and have them stop their car. His impression of a blow up air dancer that you would typically spot outside of a car dealership seems to be successful as the silver vehicle slowly pulls to a stop behind Jimin's car and a man steps out.

What the hell?

Despite the sleek and rather luxurious design of the car, the driver is decked out in a plaid button up and jeans, an obnoxiously large straw hat sitting atop his head as he waves to Jimin in greeting. "Afternoon, officer. I've never been pulled over quite like this before."

Jimin laughs lightly to humor the other and his lame joke. It wouldn't do well to piss off his only chance of salvation at this point. "Hey. Sorry to bother you, but I seem to have run out of gas. My phone's dead and I have no idea where the hell I am. Do you happen to have any time to help a guy out?"

"Oh, of course!" The man nods eagerly, the hat on his head flopping around from his actions. "I happen to live several miles from here and have a chain in my trunk, if you don't mind me towing your car for a short distance. I probably have an extra tank of gasoline laying around at home somewhere that should last you until you make it onto the highway."

Overwhelming relief washes over Jimin at the man's words. "Oh my gosh, thank you. Seriously, I thought I was going to die out here."

The man laughs, a high pitched squeaky sound. "Put your gear shift in neutral and I'll pull ahead of you so we can get going."

After another fifteen to twenty minutes, they're finally on the road, Jimin sitting in the passenger seat of the man's car. The man had introduced him as Mr. Kim as they had been working earlier, asking curiously about Jimin's work.

"I can't discuss any details since the case is still active, but I'm currently working a murder case," Jimin replies diligently, taking the time to admire the scenery outside now that he isn't stranded. It's all he can really look at anyway, considering how slow the car is moving so as to ensure that if they need to stop, Jimin's police car won't come crashing into them from the back. "I'm with the Seoul division."

Jimin swears he notices Mr. Kim bristle slightly at his words, but by the time he looks over, the man looks completely undisturbed as he continues asking random questions. "Why did you decide to join the academy?"

Jimin hums in thought. "That's a good question. I wanted to be a singer when I was younger, even took some modern dance classes too. I guess I just wanted to do some good in this world, you know? Catch some bad guys and make Seoul a better place for everyone."

Mr. Kim smiles. "I'm sure you're doing a great job, kid. My wife actually wanted to be a police officer when she was younger."

"You're married?" Jimin looks over in surprise. "You don't look that much older than me."

"Looks can be deceiving," Mr. Kim chuckles, though something about his words tells Jimin that the older isn't just talking about his own physical attributes.

"I was pretty surprised to find out you lived around this area," Jimin admits. "Your car looks pretty expensive."

"My wife and I have a small ranch out here, but we also own a place in the city," Mr. Kim tells him lightheartedly. "We have a lot of friends and family up in Seoul but I had always wanted to follow my dreams and become a farmer after I retired, so we settled on a compromise to go between the two places."

"So you're only a part time farmer?" Jimin furrows his brow. That explains the expensive car then. Only someone with a shitload of money would be able to afford all of that _and_ have the time to regularly go back and forth between the city and this place for kicks. Not to mention the man is already retired.

"Something like that," Mr. Kim answers vaguely. "Our ranch isn't on too big a plot of land so it's more of a hobby than a lifestyle. My wife hates it, but she puts up with it because she loves me. And because she thinks the chickens are cute when the chicks hatch every now and then."

Jimin can't help but smile at the fond expression that crosses Mr. Kim's face as he mentions his wife. "You must be very lucky to have her then."

"I don't know what I'd do without her," Mr. Kim replies sincerely. It makes Jimin wonder if he should consider getting back into the dating scene himself now that he has a stable job. His mind briefly drifts to the cute girl that always makes his order at the coffee shop across the street from the police station- Chaeyoung was the name on her nametag if he remembers correctly- but he soon shakes those thoughts out of his head as Mr. Kim's ranch pulls into view.

Jimin distracts himself by admiring the strawberry patch near the fence out front and playing around with the farm cat that rubs itself enthusiastically against his ankles while Mr. Kim steps into his house for a few minutes, probably to search for the extra tank of gas. Something about Mr. Kim's face seems oddly familiar, though Jimin can't quite seem to put his finger on it. His last name does faintly remind him of his old superior's obsession with this one hitman that disappeared from the Seoul crime scene a few years back, though he doesn't think much of it. After all, there are plenty of Kims in the country, not to mention within the underground community.

And besides, a hitman retiring to become a farmer? Just the thought makes Jimin snort quietly to himself in amusement. It's far more likely that Mr. Kim is just some random wealthy guy with a weird farm fetish or something along those lines. He feels rather sorry for the man's wife, though if she was confident enough to marry him, then perhaps it isn't his business.

Mr. Kim pops out a few minutes later with the extra tank of gas and a crudely drawn map of how to make it to the highway from where they are scribbled hastily onto a post-it note. After thanking him profusely, Jimin fills his car up with the gas and hops into the driver's seat, waving at the older man before driving off, leaving a light cloud of dust in his path.

"Jinnie? Who was that?" A woman asks as she rounds the corner of their house in a white t-shirt and jean overalls. Her hair is tied in a loose braid behind her and from the looks of the dirt stains over her knees, she's been tending to their garden out back.

"No one important, just some youngblood cop that ran out of gas and was asking for help." Seokjin grins lazily and saunters over to his wife, pressing a loud and happy kiss to her cheek. "You look beautiful."

Byulyi rolls her eyes and points to the shirt she's wearing underneath the overalls. "This is the same shirt I wore that night you almost died in my arms."

"Ah," Seokjin slyly tucks his thumbs into the pockets of her overalls to pull her in closer, leaning down to peck her once again, this time on the lips. "Well, as confused as I am for you to have kept that shirt in the first place, I still think you look wonderful."

"It brings back a lot of memories for me," Byulyi murmurs. "I couldn't bring myself to toss it so I decided to add it to my collection of work clothes here."

"My sentimental little star," Seokjin coos. "Farmer Seokjin's favorite wife."

"I'm your _only_ wife," Byulyi deadpans. "Let go of me. Taehyung and Wheein will be here soon and I want to go shower before they arrive."

"We see them all the time," Seokjin whines, clearly unwilling to part with his wife now that he has her in his hold as he trails close behind her with a pout as she heads back into their house and up the stairs. "They won't mind if you're a little sweaty from being outside all day."

"I'll mind!" Byulyi protests as they step into their bedroom. "In case it slipped your mind, we're going out to dinner tonight to celebrate the fact that your brother finally got the balls to propose to his girlfriend and she said yes! You better not go in the clothes you're wearing right now, I swear to god that silly straw hat of yours is going to get us kicked out of a restaurant one of these days."

"If I'm going to change, then I might as well shower too." Seokjin waggles his eyebrows at her. "Let's shower together again, hmm? You seemed to have a lot of fun last time when we-"

The latter half of his sentence is cut off as he's forced to dodge the pillow Byulyi chucks at him. His wife scowls at him, her face bright red. "Perv."

"I'm your perv though," Seokjin sings.

Byulyi shakes her head in fond exasperation as she digs around the dresser for a fresh set of clothes and walks over to the bathroom. "I'm locking the bathroom door for good measure."

Seokjin plops on top of their bed, an eyebrow raised. "Is that a challenge?"

Byulyi rolls her eyes, knowing that he's just saying things to rile her up at this point. "Behave yourself. If your brother and his fiance get here before I'm done showering, invite them in and tell them I'll be down soon, okay?"

"Anything for you." Seokjin blows her a kiss in that usual obnoxious manner of his.

Byulyi snorts and closes the bathroom door, but not before shyly murmuring one last thing. "Love you, Jinnie."

"Love you too!" Seokjin can't control the wide grin that works its way onto his face as he kicks his legs happily up into the air. His wife is _so_ cute. The police officer's words about Byulyi from earlier suddenly come to mind.

_You must be very lucky to have her._

Seokjin can't help but agree. With Byulyi by his side, he really does feel like the luckiest man in the world.

_i won't rest until your eyes_   
_gleam like diamonds,_   
_and your smile_   
_shines like the sun._

_until I hear that laugh_   
_that sounds like music,_   
_or your grin_   
_ear to ear._

_i want you to radiate joy_   
_and feel on top of the world._   
_and if I'm the reason for all of that,_   
_that's a plus too._

_-t.k. (https://txrry.tumblr.com/)_   
  
  


**_\- end of diamond dust; -_ **   
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and that's it! thank you to everyone that took the time to read this silly story! please feel free to leave any feedback or thoughts and hope you all enjoyed reading c:

**Author's Note:**

> hello! this is a recently finished btsmoo fic that i'm just crossposting over from wattpad! i'm new to the writing community on ao3 so i'll be figuring things out but i hope you all enjoy this silly little story in the process! i'll be posting some other works soon as well. stay safe and healthy and happy wednesday!
> 
> Less than three,  
> PalmerPie


End file.
